Chapter 32
A Righteous King
1 Behold, a king will reign with righteousness
and princes will rule with justice.
2 Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in arid land,
like the shade of a great rock in a desolate area.
3 Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen attentively.
4 The minds of the rash will show good judgment,
and those who stutter will speak promptly and clearly.
5 No longer will a fool be called noble,
nor will a villain be considered to be honorable.
6 For the fool speaks foolishly
while his heart is planning evil.
He practices ungodliness
and spreads malicious untruths about the Lord.
He starves the hungry by withholding their food
and deprives the thirsty of anything to drink.
7 The methods of the scoundrel are wicked,
and he devises infamous schemes
to destroy the poor with his lies
even when the pleas of the needy are just.
8 But the man who is noble plans noble deeds,
and in that respect he stands firm.
The Restoration of Jerusalem
9 Listen carefully to what I have to say,
you women who are so complacent.
Pay attention to my words,
you who feel so secure.
10 In little more than a year from now
you complacent ones will be shaken.
For the vintage will fail
and there will be no harvest.
11 Tremble, you complacent women;
shudder, you who feel secure.
Strip yourselves bare,
with only a loincloth to cover you.
12 Beat your breasts in mourning
for the pleasant fields and the fruitful vines,
13 for the soil of my people
overgrown with thorns and briars,
and for all the joyful houses
in this city of revelry.
14 The citadel[a] will be abandoned
and the crowded streets will be deserted;
the hill and the watchtower will become wasteland forever,
in which wild asses may frolic and flocks may pasture,
15 until a spirit from on high
is poured out upon us,
and the wilderness becomes an orchard
and the fruitful field becomes a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness will abide in the orchard.
17 The effect of righteousness will be peace,
and its result will be quiet and security forever.
18 My people will abide in a peaceful land,
in secure dwellings and peaceful resting places.
19 Even if the forest were to be totally destroyed
and the city were to be completely leveled,
20 how blessed you will be
to sow your seed beside every stream
and to have your cattle and your donkeys roam freely.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 32:14 Citadel: Hebrew, Ophel, the southern part of the hill of Zion.