Isaiah 32-33

English Standard Version

A King Will Reign in Righteousness

32 Behold, ^(A)a king will reign in righteousness,
    and princes will rule in justice.
²^(B)Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
    a shelter from the storm,
^(C)like streams of water in a dry place,
    like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
³^(D)Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
    and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
⁴The heart of the hasty will understand and know,
    ^(E)and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
⁵^(F)The fool will no more be called noble,
    nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
⁶For ^(G)the fool speaks folly,
    and his heart is busy with iniquity,
to practice ungodliness,
    to utter error concerning the Lord,
^(H)to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
    and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
⁷As for the scoundrel—^(I)his devices are evil;
    he plans wicked schemes
to ruin the poor with lying words,
    even when the plea of the needy is right.
⁸But he who is noble plans noble things,
    and on noble things he stands.

Complacent Women Warned of Disaster

⁹^(J)Rise up, you women ^(K)who are at ease, hear my voice;
    you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
¹⁰In little more than a year
    you will shudder, you complacent women;
for the grape harvest fails,
    the fruit harvest will not come.
¹¹Tremble, you women ^(L)who are at ease,
    shudder, you complacent ones;
^(M)strip, and make yourselves bare,
    ^(N)and tie sackcloth around your waist.
¹²^(O)Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
    for the fruitful vine,
¹³^(P)for the soil of my people
    growing up in thorns and briers,
^(Q)yes, for all the joyous houses
    in the exultant city.
¹⁴For the palace is forsaken,
    the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
    will become dens forever,
^(R)a joy of wild donkeys,
    a pasture of flocks;
¹⁵until ^(S)the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
    and ^(T)the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
    and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
¹⁶Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
    and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
¹⁷^(U)And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
    and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust^[a] forever.
¹⁸My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
    in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
¹⁹^(V)And it will hail when the forest falls down,
    ^(W)and the city will be utterly laid low.
²⁰^(X)Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
    who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.

O Lord, Be Gracious to Us

33 ^(Y)Ah, you destroyer,
    who yourself have not been destroyed,
you traitor,
    whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy,
    you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
    they will betray you.

²O Lord, be gracious to us; ^(Z)we wait for you.
    Be our arm every morning,
    our salvation in the time of trouble.
³^(AA)At the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
    when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
⁴and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
    ^(AB)as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.

⁵^(AC)The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
    he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
⁶^(AD)and he will be the stability of your times,
    abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
    the fear of the Lord is Zion's^[b] treasure.

⁷Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
    ^(AE)the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
⁸^(AF)The highways lie waste;
    the traveler ceases.
^(AG)Covenants are broken;
    cities^[c] are despised;
    there is no regard for man.
⁹^(AH)The land mourns and languishes;
    Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
    and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

¹⁰^(AI)“Now I will arise,” says the Lord,
    “now I will lift myself up;
    now I will be exalted.
¹¹^(AJ)You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
    your breath is ^(AK)a fire that will consume you.
¹²And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
    ^(AL)like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”

¹³Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
    and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
¹⁴The sinners in Zion are afraid;
    trembling has seized the godless:
^(AM)“Who among us can dwell ^(AN)with the consuming fire?
    Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
¹⁵^(AO)He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
    who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
    who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
    ^(AP)and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
¹⁶he will dwell on the heights;
    his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
    ^(AQ)his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.

¹⁷^(AR)Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
    ^(AS)they will see a land that stretches afar.
¹⁸^(AT)Your heart will muse on the terror:
    “Where is he who counted, where is ^(AU)he who weighed the tribute?
    Where is ^(AV)he who counted the towers?”
¹⁹^(AW)You will see no more the insolent people,
    the people ^(AX)of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
    stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
²⁰Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
    ^(AY)Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
    an untroubled habitation, an ^(AZ)immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
    nor will any of its cords be broken.
²¹But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
    a place of ^(BA)broad rivers and streams,
^(BB)where no galley with oars can go,
    nor majestic ship can pass.
²²For the Lord is our ^(BC)judge; the Lord is our ^(BD)lawgiver;
    the Lord is our ^(BE)king; he will save us.

²³Your cords hang loose;
    they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
    or keep the sail spread out.
^(BF)Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
    even ^(BG)the lame will take the prey.
²⁴And no inhabitant will say, ^(BH)“I am sick”;
    ^(BI)the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.