Dual Panel1BEHOLD, A King will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice.
2And each one of them shall be like a hiding place from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land [to those who turn to them].
3Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed {or} dimmed, and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4And the mind of the rash will understand knowledge {and} have good judgment, and the tongue of the stammerers will speak readily and plainly.
5The fool (the unbeliever and the ungodly) will no more be called noble, nor the crafty {and} greedy [for gain] said to be bountiful {and} princely.
6For the fool speaks folly and his mind plans iniquity: practicing profane ungodliness and speaking error concerning the Lord, leaving the craving of the hungry unsatisfied and causing the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7The instruments {and} methods of the fraudulent {and} greedy [for gain] are evil; he devises wicked devices to ruin the poor {and} the lowly with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is just {and} right.
8But the noble, openhearted, {and} liberal man devises noble things; and he stands for what is noble, openhearted, {and} generous.
9Rise up, you women who are at ease! Hear my [Isaiah's] voice, you confident {and} careless daughters! Listen to what I am saying!
10In little more than a year you will be shaken with anxiety, you careless {and} complacent women; for the vintage will fail, and the ingathering will not come.
11Tremble, you women who are at ease! Shudder with fear, you complacent ones! Strip yourselves bare and gird sackcloth upon your loins [in grief]!
12They shall beat upon their breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
13For the land of my people growing over with thorns and briers--yes, for all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
14For the palace shall be forsaken, the populous city shall be deserted; the hill and the watchtower shall become dens [for wild animals] endlessly, a joy for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
15Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is valued as a forest.
16Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) will abide in the fruitful field.
17And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever.
18My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.
19But it [the wrath of the Lord] shall hail, coming down overpoweringly on the forest [the army of the Assyrians], and the capital city shall be utterly humbled {and} laid prostrate.
20Happy {and} fortunate are you who cast your seed upon all waters [when the river overflows its banks; for the seed will sink into the mud and when the waters subside, the plant will spring up; you will find it after many days and reap an abundant harvest], you who safely send forth the ox and the donkey [to range freely].