| NET Bible | New International Version |
| 1Look, a king will promote fairness; officials will promote justice. | 1See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. |
| 2Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from a rainstorm; like streams of water in a dry region and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land. | 2Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. |
| 3Eyes will no longer be blind and ears will be attentive. | 3Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. |
| 4The mind that acts rashly will possess discernment and the tongue that stutters will speak with ease and clarity. | 4The fearful heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear. |
| 5A fool will no longer be called honorable; a deceiver will no longer be called principled. | 5No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected. |
| 6For a fool speaks disgraceful things; his mind plans out sinful deeds. He commits godless deeds and says misleading things about the LORD; he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite and gives the thirsty nothing to drink. | 6For fools speak folly, their hearts are bent on evil: They practice ungodliness and spread error concerning the LORD; the hungry they leave empty and from the thirsty they withhold water. |
| 7A deceiver's methods are evil; he dreams up evil plans to ruin the poor with lies, even when the needy are in the right. | 7Scoundrels use wicked methods, they make up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. |
| 8An honorable man makes honorable plans; his honorable character gives him security. | 8But the noble make noble plans, and by noble deeds they stand. |
| 9You complacent women, get up and listen to me! You carefree daughters, pay attention to what I say! | 9You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say! |
| 10In a year's time you carefree ones will shake with fear, for the grape harvest will fail, and the fruit harvest will not arrive. | 10In little more than a year you who feel secure will tremble; the grape harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will not come. |
| 11Tremble, you complacent ones! Shake with fear, you carefree ones! Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves--put sackcloth on your waist! | 11Tremble, you complacent women; shudder, you daughters who feel secure! Strip off your fine clothes and wrap yourselves in rags. |
| 12Mourn over the field, over the delightful fields and the fruitful vine! | 12Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines |
| 13Mourn over the land of my people, which is overgrown with thorns and briers, and over all the once-happy houses in the city filled with revelry. | 13and for the land of my people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers-- yes, mourn for all houses of merriment and for this city of revelry. |
| 14For the fortress is neglected; the once-crowded city is abandoned. Hill and watchtower are permanently uninhabited. Wild donkeys love to go there, and flocks graze there. | 14The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, |
| 15This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven. Then the desert will become an orchard and the orchard will be considered a forest. | 15till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. |
| 16Justice will settle down in the desert and fairness will live in the orchard. | 16The LORD's justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field. |
| 17Fairness will produce peace and result in lasting security. | 17The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. |
| 18My people will live in peaceful settlements, in secure homes, and in safe, quiet places. | 18My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. |
| 19Even if the forest is destroyed and the city is annihilated, | 19Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, |
| 20you will be blessed, you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams, you who let your ox and donkey graze. | 20how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free. |
|
