Isaiah 11:6

"And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea."

This is one of the most talked-about passages in the Bible; and it is a mainstay of many premillennarian groups of believers, most of whom appeal to the passage in Romans 8:22, "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now," supposing that in the millennium the lower animate creation shall participate in the blessings of Redemption in Christ when that day arrives. Regarding that verse in Romans, "The word for creation means exactly what the same word means in Mark 16:15, namely, all mankind, having no reference whatever to the lower creations such as animals."[9] Theories always assume that such harmony among the lower orders of life once existed in Eden prior to the fall of Adam, and the conditions mentioned in these verses would be merely the restoration of what once previously existed; but there is no Biblical evidence of such. There is not a word in all the Bible that backs up such fantastic theories.

Our understanding of this paragraph views it as not literal in any sense whatever. Note that the peace, harmony, and tranquillity depicted here exist only in God's holy mountain (Isaiah 11:9), not all over the world. This passage can no more be taken literally than the description of a sprout coming up out of Jesse, or of a rod or a sharp sword coming out of the mouth of Messiah. "The prophet is not looking to a time when animals of the natural world will live without enmity; but he is describing the peace of those in Jehovah's holy mountain, the kingdom of God."[10]

As Archer put it, "The picture of the fierce predatory animals living peaceably with the weak and defenseless symbolizes the removal of all natural fear and hostility between men."[11]

The asp (Isaiah 11:8) probably refers to the "great yellow viper common in Palestine."[12]

Peake also rejected the notion that this paragraph refers literally to wild beasts, because such a notion would be utterly contrary to the fact that Isaiah attributed the wonderful conditions described "to a diffusion of the knowledge of Jehovah (Isaiah 11:9); ... peace among men (in God's kingdom) is intended."[13]