NETfree - Isaiah - 32

32:1  Look, a king will promote fairness; officials will promote justice.

32:2  Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from a rainstorm; like streams of water in a dry region and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.

32:3  Eyes will no longer be blind and ears will be attentive.

32:4  The mind that acts rashly will possess discernment and the tongue that stutters will speak with ease and clarity.

32:5  A fool will no longer be called honorable; a deceiver will no longer be called principled.

32:6  For a fool speaks disgraceful things; his mind plans out sinful deeds. He commits godless deeds and says misleading things about the LORD; he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite and gives the thirsty nothing to drink.

32:7  A deceiver's methods are evil; he dreams up evil plans to ruin the poor with lies, even when the needy are in the right.

32:8  An honorable man makes honorable plans; his honorable character gives him security.

32:9  You complacent women, get up and listen to me! You carefree daughters, pay attention to what I say!

32:10  In a year's time you carefree ones will shake with fear, for the grape harvest will fail, and the fruit harvest will not arrive.

32:11  Tremble, you complacent ones! Shake with fear, you carefree ones! Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves - put sackcloth on your waist!

32:12  Mourn over the field, over the delightful fields and the fruitful vine!

32:13  Mourn over the land of my people, which is overgrown with thorns and briers, and over all the once-happy houses in the city filled with revelry.

32:14  For the fortress is neglected; the once-crowded city is abandoned. Hill and watchtower are permanently uninhabited. Wild donkeys love to go there, and flocks graze there.

32:15  This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven. Then the desert will become an orchard and the orchard will be considered a forest.

32:16  Justice will settle down in the desert and fairness will live in the orchard.

32:17  Fairness will produce peace and result in lasting security.

32:18  My people will live in peaceful settlements, in secure homes, and in safe, quiet places.

32:19  Even if the forest is destroyed and the city is annihilated,

32:20  you will be blessed, you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams, you who let your ox and donkey graze.