Question: Will some of your learned contributors kindly say whether the word “wicked” in the end of verse 4, Isa. 11, is, in the original, singular or plural?
Answer: The word is in the singular, though the preceding words “poor” and “meek” are plural. It occurs many times throughout the Old Testament and in both forms. As is well known the singular may be used in a collective sense as well as individually. And here Robert Lowth (1778) would appear to be right in his rendering— “the wicked one.” This is confirmed by the fuller light of the New Testament; for “no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation.” See 2 Thess. 2:3-8. The Targum of Jonathan singularly paraphrases it “he will slay the wicked Armillus” —the name given by Jewish writers to a future personage to appear in Rome, and who is to kill Messiah, Joseph’s son, but himself to be slain by Messiah, David’s son!—thus understanding it of a particular individual.