A king will reign with justice
1 A king will reign with justice
and princes reign in righteousness.
2 Each will be like a shield from the wind
and a shelter from the rain,
like streams of water in a dry, parched land,
like the shade of a rock in a weary land.
3 The eyes that see will not be shut;
the ears that hear will not be stopped.
4 The mind of the rash will not judge hastily;
the tongue that stammers will speak clearly.
5 No more will the fool be taken as noble,
nor the scoundrel considered honorable.
6 For the fool speaks folly and his mind thinks sinfully: he practices wickedness and takes pride in godlessness; he lets the hungry go without food, and the thirsty without drink.
7 The ways of the scoundrel are also evil, scheming wickedly against the poor, destroying the needy with lies even when their plea is just.
8 But those who are noble plan noble things, and so are their deeds.
Tremble, you idle women
9 Rise up, women who are at ease; hear my voice, carefree daughters; give heed to my words.
10 In a little over a year, you who feel complacent will be shaken, for harvest will not come and the vintage will
11 Tremble, you women who are at ease; be troubled, you carefree ones. Strip yourselves bare, with only a sackcloth to cover your loins.
12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
13 for the soil of my peo ple overgrown with briers and thorns, for all the houses of joy, for the city of the wan ton.
14 For the palace will be abandoned, and the noisy city deserted; the fort and the tower will become dens forever, the delight of wild asses, a pasture for flocks.
My people will live in peace
15 When at last the spirit is poured on us from on high, then will the desert become a garden, and this garden will be free as a fallow land.
16 Justice will dwell in the wilderness; and in the fertile land, right eous ness.
17 Justice will bring about peace; justice will produce calm and security forever.
18 My people will live in comfort and bliss in a land of secure dwellings and un disturbed resting places.
19 While the forest will be beat en down and the fortress laid waste.
20 How blessed you will be, sowing by every stream, letting your work animals roam contented and free.
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Comments Isaiah, Chapter 32
• 32.1 Another poem about the hopes placed in the future Prince of Peace (see Is 11).
The just king will give his spirit to the rulers and to the people in charge. Then, the people will be attentive to the Word of God.