Isaiah 32
New Living Translation
Israel’s Ultimate Deliverance
32 Look, a righteous king is coming!
And honest princes will rule under him.
2 Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.
3 Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth,
and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it.
4 Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding.
Those who stammer will speak out plainly.
5 In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes.
Scoundrels will not be respected.
6 For fools speak foolishness
and make evil plans.
They practice ungodliness
and spread false teachings about the Lord.
They deprive the hungry of food
and give no water to the thirsty.
7 The smooth tricks of scoundrels are evil.
They plot crooked schemes.
They lie to convict the poor,
even when the cause of the poor is just.
8 But generous people plan to do what is generous,
and they stand firm in their generosity.
9 Listen, you women who lie around in ease.
Listen to me, you who are so smug.
10 In a short time—just a little more than a year—
you careless ones will suddenly begin to care.
For your fruit crops will fail,
and the harvest will never take place.
11 Tremble, you women of ease;
throw off your complacency.
Strip off your pretty clothes,
and put on burlap to show your grief.
12 Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms
and your fruitful grapevines.
13 For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers.
Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.
14 The palace and the city will be deserted,
and busy towns will be empty.
Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze
in the empty forts[a] and watchtowers
15 until at last the Spirit is poured out
on us from heaven.
Then the wilderness will become a fertile field,
and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
16 Justice will rule in the wilderness
and righteousness in the fertile field.
17 And this righteousness will bring peace.
Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
18 My people will live in safety, quietly at home.
They will be at rest.
19 Even if the forest should be destroyed
and the city torn down,
20 the Lord will greatly bless his people.
Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up.
Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.
Footnotes
- 32:14 Hebrew the Ophel.
Isaiah 32
Common English Bible
Righteous rule
32 See here: A king rules to promote righteousness;
rulers govern to promote justice,
2 each like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from a storm,
like streams of water in a wasteland,
like the shade of a massive cliff in a worn-out land.
3 Then the eyes of those who can see will no longer be blind,
the ears of those who can hear will listen,
4 the minds of the rash will know and comprehend,
and the tongues of those who stammer will speak fluently and plainly.
5 Then a fool will no longer be called honorable,
nor a villain considered respectable.
6 Fools speak folly;
their minds devise wickedness,
acting irreverently,
speaking falsely of the Lord,
leaving the hungry empty,
and depriving the thirsty of drink.
7 As for the villain, his villainies are evil.
He plans schemes to destroy the poor with lying words,
even when the needy speak justly.
8 But an honorable person plans honorable things
and stands up for what is honorable.
Warnings to the carefree
9 Women of leisure, stand up! Hear my voice!
Carefree daughters, listen to my word!
10 In a little over a year,
the carefree will shudder,
because the grape harvest will fail;
the vintage won’t arrive.
11 Tremble, all of you who are at ease;
shudder, all of you who are secure!
Strip yourselves, bare your skin,
and tie mourning clothes around your waist,
12 beating your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine,
13 for my people’s soil
growing barbs and thorns,
for all the joyous houses
in the jubilant town.
14 The palace will be deserted,
the crowded city abandoned.
Stronghold and watchtower
will become empty fields forever,
suited for the pleasure of wild donkeys,
and a pasture for flocks—
15 until a spirit from on high
is poured out on us,
and the desert turns into farmland, and the farmland is considered a forest.
16 Then justice will reside in wild lands,
and righteousness will abide in farmlands.
17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace,
and the outcome of righteousness,
calm and security forever.
18 Then my people will live in a peaceful dwelling,
in secure homes, in carefree resting places.
19 Even if the forest falls[a]
and the humbled city is laid low,
20 those who sow beside any stream will be happy,
sending out ox and donkey to graze.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 32:19 Or it will hail when the forest falls
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible