Isaiah 32
32
A King with Integrity
1Some day there will be a king who rules with integrity, and national leaders who govern with justice. 2Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a place to hide from storms. They will be like streams flowing in a desert, like the shadow of a giant rock in a barren land. 3Their eyes and ears will be open to the needs of the people. 4They will not be impatient any longer, but they will act with understanding and will say what they mean. 5No one will think that a fool is honourable or say that a scoundrel is honest. 6A fool speaks foolishly and thinks up evil things to do. What he does and what he says are an insult to the LORD, and he never feeds the hungry or gives thirsty people anything to drink. 7A stupid person is evil and does evil things; he plots to ruin the poor with lies and to prevent them getting their rights. 8But an honourable person acts honestly and stands firm for what is right.
Judgement and Restoration
9You women who live an easy life, free from worries, listen to what I am saying. 10You may be satisfied now, but this time next year you will be in despair because there will be no grapes for you to gather. 11You have been living an easy life, free from worries; but now, tremble with fear! Strip off your clothes and tie rags round your waist. 12Beat your breasts in grief because the fertile fields and the vineyards have been destroyed, 13and thorn bushes and briars are growing on my people's land. Weep for all the houses where people were happy and for the city that was full of life. 14Even the palace will be abandoned and the capital city totally deserted. Homes and the forts that guarded them will be in ruins for ever. Wild donkeys will roam there, and sheep will find pasture there.
15But once more God will send us his Spirit. The waste land will become fertile, and fields will produce rich crops. 16Everywhere in the land righteousness and justice will be done. 17Because everyone will do what is right, there will be peace and security for ever. 18God's people will be free from worries, and their homes peaceful and safe. 19(But hail will fall on the forests, and the city will be torn down.) 20How happy everyone will be with plenty of water for the crops and safe pasture everywhere for the donkeys and cattle.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Isaiah 32
32
1Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,
and princes will rule in justice.
2Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
a covert from the tempest,
like streams of water in a dry place,
like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
3Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will hearken.
4The mind of the rash will have good judgment,
and the tongue of the stammerers will speak readily and distinctly.
5The fool will no more be called noble,
nor the knave said to be honorable.
6For the fool speaks folly,
and his mind plots iniquity:
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the Lord,
to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
7The knaveries of the knave are evil;
he devises wicked devices
to ruin the poor with lying words,
even when the plea of the needy is right.
8But he who is noble devises noble things,
and by noble things he stands.
9Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;
you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
10In little more than a year
you will shudder, you complacent women;
for the vintage will fail,
the fruit harvest will not come.
11Tremble, you women who are at ease,
shudder, you complacent ones;
strip, and make yourselves bare,
and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
12Beat upon your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine,
13for the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers;
yea, for all the joyous houses
in the joyful city.
14For the palace will be forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens for ever,
a joy of wild asses,
a pasture of flocks;
15until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
16Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
17And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever.
18My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
19And the forest will utterly go down,#32.19 Cn: Heb And it will hail when the forest comes down
and the city will be utterly laid low.
20Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
who let the feet of the ox and the ass range free.
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America