Reign of a Righteous King

1Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.

2And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a refuge from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

3And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall listen.

4The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.

5The foolish person shall be no more called noble, nor the miser said to be bountiful.

6For the foolish person will speak foolishness, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

7The schemes also of the schemer are evil: he devises wicked plans to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks justly.

8But the noble plans noble things; and by noble things shall he stand.

Women that are at Ease

9Rise up, you women that are at ease; hear my voice, you complacent daughters; give ear unto my speech.

10In a little more than a year shall you be troubled, you complacent women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.

11Tremble, you women that are at ease; be troubled, you complacent ones: strip yourselves, and make yourselves bare, and gird sackcloth upon your waists.

12Beat upon your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

13Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the joyous houses in the joyous city:

14Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;

15Until the spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest.

16Then justice shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.

17And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.

18And my people shall dwell in a peaceful habitation, and in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;

19When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be brought low in humiliation.

20Blessed are you that sow beside all waters, that send forth freely the feet of the ox and the donkey.