(Isa. 11:6–9; 65:25; Abr. 4:29–30; D&C 101:26, 29)
Wolf/leopard/lion/lamb/kid/calf. Six animals are listed (not counting the fatling, see below); three are wild carnivores (wolf, leopard, lion) that feed on the three tame animals (lamb, kid, calf). The wild animals, which are ferocious, aggressive, and vicious, are a threat to mankind; the tame animals are docile, submissive, and useful to man. This passage may be taken literally; or the wolf, leopard, and lion may represent those who foment war and murder; the lamb, kid, and calf may symbolize meek and peaceful people.
Fatling. The King James Version translation of fatling is probably incorrect. The Jerusalem Bible suggests “calf and lion cub feed together,” replacing fatling with the verb feed.
Little child shall lead them. Small children will not only feel safe among the ferocious beasts but will have control over them and lead them.
Cow/bear/lion/ox. Isaiah continues to compare wild, carnivorous animals (bear and lion) with tame animals (cow and ox). His prophecy that the lion will pasture like the ox suggests that there will be no shedding of blood during the Millennium by man or beast. During the Millennium, “the enmity of man, and the enmity of beasts, yea, the enmity of all flesh, shall cease from before my face” (D&C 101:26).
Their young ones. This refers to the offspring of the cow and the bear and indicates that the subsequent generations of beasts will have no hostilities toward one another. This peaceful state of affairs, wherein no blood is shed, will endure… .
Both the nursing infant and the weaned toddler are completely helpless in the face of danger, but during the Millennium, both will be able to play at the asp (possibly the cobra) and the cockatrice’s (possibly the viper’s) dens, for poisonous snakes that once harmed and destroyed will be harmless. The curse between the seed of the woman (the child) and the serpent (Gen. 3:15) will be gone. The serpents here call to mind “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan” (Rev. 12:9), whose intent it is to harm and destroy the souls of mankind. Satan, however, will be bound during the Millennium, with all of his angels, so that peaceful conditions can hold sway.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. Enmity will be removed from the earth, and peace, love, and kindness will be the rule. Holy mountain may refer to the entire earth in its temple-like condition.
(Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, and Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1998], 119–20.)
“Isaiah often equates the growing wickedness of the world with the brutal and wasteful exploitation of nature, which has reached an alltime climax in the present generation. We all know his most poetic lines: “The leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion, the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones lie down together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox.” In my school days this was the prize illustration of the unrealistic Isaiah, zoological nonsense. It was not the “nature red in tooth and claw” of our own neo-Darwinian world. Since then a lot has been learned about the true nature of certain savage beasts.
(Hugh W. Nibley, “Great Are the Words of Isaiah,” Sidney B. Sperry Symposium [Provo, Utah: Religious Instruction, BYU, January 28, 1978], 206.)
The peace that will exist among all creatures on the earth is exciting. Flesh-eating and plant-eating animals will be at peace with each other, because all living creatures in that day will be herbivorous, as they were in the Garden of Eden.
(Keith A Meservy, Studies in Scripture, Vol. 4, ed. Kent P. Jackson [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993], 101.)
[The following occurred while Zion’s Camp was on the march from Kirtland to Missouri.] In pitching my tent we found three massasaugas or prairie rattlesnakes, which the brethren were about to kill, but I said, “Let them alone—don’t hurt them! How will the serpent ever lose its venom, while the servants of God possess the same disposition, and continue to make war upon it? Men must become harmless before the brute creation, and when men lose their viscious dispositions and cease to destroy the animal race, the lion and the lamb can dwell together, and the sucking child can play with the serpent in safety.” The brethren took the serpents carefully on sticks and carried them across the creek. I exhorted the brethren not to kill a serpent, bird, or an animal of any kind during our journey unless it became necessary in order to preserve ourselves from hunger.
(Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976], 71.)
One of the instructions given by the Prophet during this journey was that his brethren should not kill an animal of any kind, unless it became absolutely necessary to save themselves from starvation. On one occasion … the men saw three rattlesnakes and were about to kill them, but Joseph forbade the act. He asked the elders how would the serpent ever lose its venom while the servants of God made war upon it with desire to kill. He said: “Men themselves must first become harmless before they can expect the brute creation to be so. When man shall lose his own vicious disposition and cease to destroy the inferior animals, the lion and lamb may dwell together and the suckling child play with the serpent in safety.” It was a deep philosophy and contrary to the preconceived notions and early lessons of his brethren; but they obeyed. And soon they experienced the truth of his words. One of the members of the camp by the name of Solomon Humphrey lay down on the prairie one day to rest. He fell asleep with his hat in hand. While he slumbered a large rattlesnake crawled up and coiled between him and his hat, and when Elder Humphrey awoke he found the serpent’s head not a foot from his own. He did not harm it, and when some of his brethren would have killed it, he stayed their hands, saying: “No, I will protect him, for he and I have had a good nap together.” Although the rattlesnake was roused it made no effort to strike.
(George Q. Cannon, Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1972], 174–75.)
During the general conference when we were sustained, President Gordon B. Hinckley described some of the terrible atrocities that have been inflicted on children throughout the world. We read in news-papers and periodicals of the evil influences that are invading our homes.
As a new and very concerned Primary presidency, we prayed and searched the scriptures and were led to a verse in Isaiah that describes conditions during the Millennium: “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord” (Isa. 11:9). That was exactly what we wanted to have happen. We didn’t want any child to be hurt or destroyed, but we didn’t want to wait for the Millennium. We wanted that to happen right now. If our Primaries were full of the knowledge of the Lord, if our homes were full of the knowledge of the Lord, there would be peace and righteousness and the children would not be hurt in any way… .
The world is not a safe place. It is not a place where children will feel peace, hope, and direction unless they are taught to love and follow the Savior. Please help them know that these great blessings can be theirs, and show them what they need to do to receive these blessings.”
(Patricia P. Pinegar, Ensign, Nov. 1999, 67.)
I opened the Old Testament randomly and … came upon a prophecy of Zechariah regarding the city of Jerusalem in the millennial day: “And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof” (Zech. 8:5). That verse for me has ever since personified the joy and peace of the earth’s Sabbath Day—a time to come in which children will grow up free from fear, from neglect and abuse, from darkness and ignorance; a time in which the little ones of the world will live under the seal of a higher law and a loving Lord. I yearn for the day when in every village and city of the world, boys and girls will play in innocence, and every child know the peace of a happy home. For me, that is the Millennium.
(Bruce D. Porter, The King of Kings [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 2000], 181.)