Isaiah 32

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

32 Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,
    and princes will rule in justice.
² Each 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.
³ Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
    and the ears of those who hear will hearken.
⁴ The mind of the rash will have good judgment,
    and the tongue of the stammerers will speak readily and distinctly.
⁵ The fool will no more be called noble,
    nor the knave said to be honorable.
⁶ For 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.
⁷ The 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.
⁸ But he who is noble devises noble things,
    and by noble things he stands.

⁹ Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;
    you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
¹⁰ In little more than a year
    you will shudder, you complacent women;
for the vintage will fail,
    the fruit harvest will not come.
¹¹ Tremble, you women who are at ease,
    shudder, you complacent ones;
strip, and make yourselves bare,
    and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
¹² Beat upon your breasts for the pleasant fields,
    for the fruitful vine,
¹³ for the soil of my people
    growing up in thorns and briers;
yea, for all the joyous houses
    in the joyful city.
¹⁴ For 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;
¹⁵ until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
    and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
    and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.

¹⁶ Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
    and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
¹⁷ And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
    and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever.
¹⁸ My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
    in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
¹⁹ And the forest will utterly go down,^[a]
    and the city will be utterly laid low.
²⁰ Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
    who let the feet of the ox and the ass range free.