Isaiah 32
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Righteous Kingdom
32
See, a king will reign in righteousness,
and officials will govern with justice.
2 Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water for a dry place,
like the shade of a massive cliff in a parched land.
3 The eyes of those who see will not be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 Hasty hearts[a] will gain understanding,
and stammering tongues will speak clearly.
5 The fool will no longer be called noble,
nor will rogues be treated like respectable people.[b]
6 The fool speaks folly,
and his heart plots evil:
to do what is ungodly,
to tell lies about the Lord,
to deny food to the hungry,
and to refuse even one drink for the thirsty.
7 The rogue’s ways are evil.
He plots evil to ruin the humble with lies,
even when the poor speak with justice.
8 But the noble man plans noble deeds,
and by noble deeds he stands.
Judgment and Restoration
9 Get up, you complacent women, and listen!
You carefree girls, hear what I have to say!
10 In a little more than a year, you carefree women will be worried,
because the grape harvest will fail,
and the fruit harvest will not arrive.
11 Tremble, you complacent women!
Be worried, you carefree girls!
Strip yourselves naked,
and put sackcloth around your waist.
12 Beat your breasts in mourning
for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vines,
13 because my people’s land will yield only thorns and briers.
Weep for all the houses where you partied,
in the city where you celebrated.
14 Then the fortress will be abandoned.
The crowded city will be deserted.
The citadel and the watchtower will become
rugged ruins[c] for a long time,
enjoyed by wild donkeys,
and a pasture for flocks,
15 until the Spirit is poured out on us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fertile field,
and the fertile field seems like a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness will live in the fertile field.
17 The result of righteousness will be peace,
and righteousness will bring lasting tranquility and security.
18 My people will live in a peaceful place,
in secure dwellings,
and in quiet resting places.
19 Even if hail destroys the forest,
or if the city is totally leveled,
20 how blessed you will be,
as you sow seed beside streams,
and let your cattle and donkeys run free.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 32:4 Or rash minds
- Isaiah 32:5 Or celebrities
- Isaiah 32:14 Or animals’ dens
Isaiah 32
King James Version
32 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.
2 And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
3 And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.
4 The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.
6 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.
8 But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.
9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
10 Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
12 They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
14 Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
19 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.
20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.