ProlepsisOpen in the graph →

Prophecy

The earth full of the knowledge of the LORD (Isaiah 11:9)

The wolf, the lamb, the lion and the little child of Isaiah 11: artist’s impression by Edward Hicks, Peaceable Kingdom, around 1833-1834.
Artist’s impression The wolf, the lamb, the lion and the little child of Isaiah 11: artist’s impression by Edward Hicks, Peaceable Kingdom, around 1833-1834. — Edward Hicks, Wikimedia Commons · Domaine public

? Not yet fulfilled

Written c. 740–700 BC according to tradition; c. 740–450 BC according to historians.

See the full entry: sources, objections, answers

In short

The announcement. The prophet Isaiah, in the book of Isaiah, around 740–700 BC, announces a world where “the wolf will live with the lamb”, where no one will do harm anymore, and where the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD.

What happened. This has not happened yet. The Bible is spread today as never before, but having access to a text is not the knowledge Isaiah speaks of, and the world of peace he describes does not exist.

What is still debated. some see in the worldwide spread of the Bible a beginning of fulfillment, whereas the context of the verse has in view a transformed world that is not yet here.

Main objection (in French for now)

Avoir accès à une traduction ne signifie pas connaître l’Éternel : les statistiques mesurent la disponibilité d’un texte, pas la connaissance dont parle Ésaïe.

The text (World English Bible)

The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Isa 11:6-9

Sources