The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Message Bible MSG
1 There is coming a king who will reign justly and princes who will rule uprightly.
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But look! A king will rule in the right way, and his leaders will carry out justice.
2 A man will be like a refuge from the wind, like protection from a storm, like streams of water on arid ground, like a rock cliff shading a weary land.
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Each one will stand as a shelter from high winds, provide safe cover in stormy weather. Each will be cool running water in parched land, a huge granite outcrop giving shade in the desert.
3 The eyes of those seeing will not be closed, the ears of those hearing will pay close attention.
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Anyone who looks will see, anyone who listens will hear.
4 The minds of the impetuous will learn to weigh carefully, the tongues of the stutterers will speak readily and clearly.
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The impulsive will make sound decisions, the tongue-tied will speak with eloquence.
5 The mean person will no longer be called generous, or the miserly said to be noble;
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No more will fools become celebrities, nor crooks be rewarded with fame.
6 for the mean person will speak meanness, his heart planning evil, so that he can act godlessly, spreading error concerning ADONAI, as he lets the hungry go on starving and deprives the thirsty of drink.
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For fools are fools and that's that, thinking up new ways to do mischief. They leave a wake of wrecked lives and lies about God, Turning their backs on the homeless hungry, ignoring those dying of thirst in the streets.
7 The mean person's means are mean - he devises wicked devices to ruin the poor and needy with lies, even when their cause is just.
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And the crooks? Underhanded sneaks they are, inventive in sin and scandal, Exploiting the poor with scams and lies, unmoved by the victimized poor.
8 But the generous person devises generous things, and his generosity will keep him standing.
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But those who are noble make noble plans, and stand for what is noble.
9 You women who are so complacent, listen to me! Overconfident women, pay attention to my words!
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Take your stand, indolent women! Listen to me! Indulgent, indolent women, listen closely to what I have to say.
10 In a year and a few days more, you overconfident women will shudder, because the vintage will fail, the harvest will not come.
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In just a little over a year from now, you'll be shaken out of your lazy lives. The grape harvest will fail, and there'll be no fruit on the trees.
11 Tremble, you complacent women! Shudder, you overconfident women! Strip bare, wear sackcloth to cover yourselves.
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Oh tremble, you indolent women. Get serious, you pampered dolls! Strip down and discard your silk fineries. Put on funeral clothes.
12 Beat your breasts in mourning for the pleasant fields and fruitful vines,
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Shed honest tears for the lost harvest, the failed vintage.
13 for the land of my people, producing thorns and briars, for all the happy homes in the joyful city.
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Weep for my people's gardens and farms that grow nothing but thistles and thornbushes. Cry tears, real tears, for the happy homes no longer happy, the merry city no longer merry.
14 For the palace will be abandoned, the crowded city deserted, 'Ofel and fortress wastelands forever, a delight for wild donkeys and a pasture for flocks
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The royal palace is deserted, the bustling city quiet as a morgue, The emptied parks and playgrounds taken over by wild animals, delighted with their new home.
15 till the Spirit is poured out on us from above, and the desert becomes a fertile field, with the fertile field regarded as a forest.
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Yes, weep and grieve until the Spirit is poured down on us from above And the badlands desert grows crops and the fertile fields become forests.
16 Then justice will dwell in the desert, and righteousness abide in the fertile field.
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Justice will move into the badlands desert. Right will build a home in the fertile field.
17 The effect of righteousness will be peace; the result of righteousness, quiet trust forever.
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And where there's Right, there'll be Peace and the progeny of Right: quiet lives and endless trust.
18 My people will live in a peaceful place, in secure neighborhoods and tranquil dwellings.
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My people will live in a peaceful neighborhood - in safe houses, in quiet gardens.
19 Just as the forest will surely come down, the city will surely be laid low.
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The forest of your pride will be clear-cut, the city showing off your power leveled.
20 Happy are you who sow by all streams, letting oxen and donkeys roam freely.
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But you will enjoy a blessed life, planting well-watered fields and gardens, with your farm animals grazing freely.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.