Isaiah 11:8

A baby ¹  will play over the hole of a snake; ²  over the nest ³  of a serpent an infant ⁴  will put his hand. ⁵ 

The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.

The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.

Babies will crawl safely among poisonous snakes. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes and pull it out unharmed.

The nursing child will crawl over rattlesnake dens, the toddler stick his hand down the hole of a serpent.

And the child at the breast will be playing by the hole of the snake, and the older child will put his hand on the bright eye of the poison-snake.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.

The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.

A baby ¹  will play over the hole of a snake; ²  over the nest ³  of a serpent an infant ⁴  will put his hand. ⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “one sucking,” i.e., still being nursed by his mother.

² tn Or perhaps, “cobra” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV); KJV, ASV, NRSV “asp.”

³ tc The Hebrew text has the otherwise unattested מְאוּרַת (mÿ’urat, “place of light”), i.e., opening of a hole. Some prefer to emend to מְעָרַת (mÿ’arat, “cave, den”).

⁴ tn Heb “one who is weaned” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

⁵ sn The transformation of the animal kingdom depicted here typifies what will occur in human society under the just rule of the ideal king (see vv. 3-5). The categories “predator-prey” (i.e., oppressor-oppressed) will no longer exist.