Isaiah 32

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¹Watch! A king is coming who does what's right when he rules, and those who rule under him will act fairly.

²Each one will be like a shelter from the wind, like a protection from the storm, like rivers of water in the dry desert, like the shade of a large rock in a sun-baked land.

³Then everyone with eyes will be able to truly see, and everyone who has ears will be able to truly hear.

⁴Those whose minds are impulsive will be sensible and think things through; those who stammer will speak clearly.

⁵No longer will fools be called respectable or crooks highly-regarded.

⁶For fools only talk foolishness, thinking evil things. They act in opposition to the Lord, misrepresenting him in what they say. They refuse to give food to the hungry and deny water to the thirsty.

⁷Cheats use evil methods; they devise schemes to ruin the poor with lies, even when right is on the side of the poor.

⁸But noble people act unselfishly; they keep to their principles of generosity.

⁹Get up, you women who are lying around relaxing, and pay attention to what I'm saying! You ladies without a care in the world, listen to me!

¹⁰In just over a year, you who think yourselves so safe will tremble with fear. The grape harvest is going to fail and there'll be no harvest.

¹¹Shudder, you women relaxing! Tremble, you ladies who feel so safe! Strip off your clothes, bare yourselves and put on sackcloth around your waists.

¹²Beat your breasts in sadness over the loss of your lovely fields, your productive vines,

¹³over the loss of the land of my people. Mourn because it's now overgrown with thorns and brambles, mourn because of the loss of all the happy homes and joyful towns.

¹⁴The palace is abandoned, the crowded town is deserted. Castles and watch towers will forever become homes loved by wild donkeys, and places where sheep graze,

¹⁵until the Spirit is poured out on us from above, and the desert becomes like a good field full of crops, and a good field will grow like a forest.

¹⁶Then people living in the desert will practice justice, and those living among the fields will do what is right.

¹⁷Living right will bring peace and security that endures.

¹⁸My people will live in peace, safe and secure in their homes.

¹⁹Even though hail can destroy a forest, and a town can be demolished,

²⁰you will be happy as you sow your crops beside the waters and let your cattle and donkeys roam freely.