Isaiah 32

English Standard Version Anglicised

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.
⁴ The 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 honourable.
⁶ For ^(G)the fool speaks folly,
    and his heart is busy with iniquity,
to practise ungodliness,
    to utter error concerning the Lord,
^(H)to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
    and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
⁷ As 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.
⁸ But he who is noble plans noble things,
    and on noble things he stands.

^9 (J)Rise up, you women ^(K)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 grape harvest fails,
    the fruit harvest will not come.
¹¹ Tremble, you women ^(L)who are at ease,
    shudder, you complacent ones;
^(M)strip, and make yourselves bare,
    ^(N)and tie sackcloth round 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.
¹⁴ For the palace is forsaken,
    the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
    will become dens for ever,
^(R)a joy of wild donkeys,
    a pasture of flocks;
¹⁵ until ^(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.
¹⁶ Then 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] for ever.
¹⁸ My 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.