MLV(i)
1 Behold, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule in justice.
2 And a man will be as a hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
3 And the eyes of those who see will not be dim and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 And the heart of the rash will understand knowledge and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.
5 The fool will no more be called noble, nor the churl said to be bountiful.
6 For the fool will do senselessness and his heart will work wickedness, to practice profaneness and to utter error against Jehovah, to make empty the soul of the hungry and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. 7 And the instruments of the churl are evil. He devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks right. 8 But a noble man devises noble things and in noble things he will continue.
9 Rise up, you* women who are at ease. Hear my voice, you* careless daughters. Listen to my speech. 10 For you* will be troubled days beyond a year, you* careless women. For the vintage will fail; the ingathering will not come. 11 Tremble, women who are at ease. Be troubled, you* careless ones. Strip you* and make you* bare and gird sackcloth upon your* loins. 12 They will beat upon the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
13 Thorns and briers will come up on the land of my people, yes, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city. 14 For the palace will be forsaken. The populous city will be deserted. The hill and the watch-tower will be for dens everlasting, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks, 15 until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness will abide in the fruitful field. 17 And the work of righteousness will be peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence everlasting. 18 And my people will abide in a peaceable habitation and in safe dwellings and in quiet resting-places. 19 But it will hail in the downfall of the forest and the city will be utterly laid low. 20 You* who sow beside all waters, who send forth the feet of the ox and the donkey are fortunate.
6 For the fool will do senselessness and his heart will work wickedness, to practice profaneness and to utter error against Jehovah, to make empty the soul of the hungry and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. 7 And the instruments of the churl are evil. He devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks right. 8 But a noble man devises noble things and in noble things he will continue.
9 Rise up, you* women who are at ease. Hear my voice, you* careless daughters. Listen to my speech. 10 For you* will be troubled days beyond a year, you* careless women. For the vintage will fail; the ingathering will not come. 11 Tremble, women who are at ease. Be troubled, you* careless ones. Strip you* and make you* bare and gird sackcloth upon your* loins. 12 They will beat upon the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
13 Thorns and briers will come up on the land of my people, yes, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city. 14 For the palace will be forsaken. The populous city will be deserted. The hill and the watch-tower will be for dens everlasting, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks, 15 until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness will abide in the fruitful field. 17 And the work of righteousness will be peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence everlasting. 18 And my people will abide in a peaceable habitation and in safe dwellings and in quiet resting-places. 19 But it will hail in the downfall of the forest and the city will be utterly laid low. 20 You* who sow beside all waters, who send forth the feet of the ox and the donkey are fortunate.