| 1 | Behold, a
[a]King will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice. |
| 2 | And each one of them shall be like a hiding place from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land [to those who turn to them]. |
| 3 | Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed
or
dimmed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. |
| 4 | And the mind of the rash will understand knowledge
and
have good judgment, and the tongue of the stammerers will speak readily and plainly. |
| 5 | The fool (the unbeliever and the ungodly) will no more be called noble, nor the crafty
and
greedy [for gain] said to be bountiful
and
princely. |
| 6 | For the fool speaks folly and his mind plans iniquity: practicing profane ungodliness and speaking error concerning the Lord, leaving the craving of the hungry unsatisfied and causing the drink of the thirsty to fail. |
| 7 | The instruments
and
methods of the fraudulent
and
greedy [for gain] are evil; he devises wicked devices to ruin the poor
and
the lowly with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is just
and
right. |
| 8 | But the noble, openhearted,
and
liberal man devises noble things; and he stands for what is noble, openhearted,
and
generous. |
| 9 | Rise up, you women who are at ease! Hear my [Isaiah’s] voice, you confident
and
careless daughters! Listen to what I am saying! |
| 10 | In little more than a year you will be shaken with anxiety, you careless
and
complacent women; for the vintage will fail, and the ingathering will not come. |
| 11 | Tremble, you women who are at ease! Shudder with fear, you complacent ones! Strip yourselves bare and gird sackcloth upon your loins [in grief]! |
| 12 | They shall beat upon their breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, |
| 13 | For the land of my people growing over with thorns and briers—yes, for all the houses of joy in the joyous city. |
| 14 | For the palace shall be forsaken, the populous city shall be deserted; the hill and the watchtower shall become dens [for wild animals] endlessly, a joy for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks, |
| 15 | Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is valued as a forest. |
| 16 | Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) will abide in the fruitful field. |
| 17 | And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever. |
| 18 | My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places. |
| 19 | But it [the wrath of the Lord] shall hail, coming down overpoweringly on the forest [the army of the Assyrians], and the capital
[b]city shall be utterly humbled
and
laid prostrate. |
| 20 | Happy
and
fortunate are you who cast your seed upon all waters [when the river overflows its banks; for the seed will sink into the mud and when the waters subside, the plant will spring up; you will find it after many days and reap an abundant harvest], you who safely send forth the ox and the donkey [to range freely]. |
Cross references:
-
Isaiah 32:15 : Ps. 104:30; Ezek. 36:26, 27; 39:29; Zech. 12:10.
|