New Living Translation NLT
Hebrew Names Version HNV
1 Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him.
1
Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.
2 Each 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 parched land.
2
A man shall 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 Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth, and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it.
3
The eyes of those who see shall not be dim, and the ears of those who hear shall listen.
4 Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding. Those who stammer will speak out plainly.
4
The heart of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
5 In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes. Scoundrels will not be respected.
5
The fool shall be no more called noble, nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
6 For fools speak foolishness and make evil plans. They practice ungodliness and spread false teachings about the LORD . They deprive the hungry of food and give no water to the thirsty.
6
For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice profanity, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7 The smooth tricks of scoundrels are evil. They plot crooked schemes. They lie to convict the poor, even when the cause of the poor is just.
7
The instruments of the churl are evil: he devises wicked devices to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.
8 But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity.
8
But the noble devises noble things; and in noble things shall he continue.
9 Listen, you women who lie around in ease. Listen to me, you who are so smug.
9
Rise up, you women who are at ease, [and] hear my voice; you careless daughters, give ear to my speech.
10 In a short time—just a little more than a year— you careless ones will suddenly begin to care. For your fruit crops will fail, and the harvest will never take place.
10
For days beyond a year shall you be troubled, you careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the harvest shall not come.
11 Tremble, you women of ease; throw off your complacency. Strip off your pretty clothes, and put on burlap to show your grief.
11
Tremble, you women who are at ease; be troubled, you careless ones; strip yourselves, and make yourselves naked, and gird [sackcloth] on your loins.
12 Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms and your fruitful grapevines.
12
They shall strike on the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
13 For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers. Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.
13
On the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
14 The palace and the city will be deserted, and busy towns will be empty. Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze in the empty forts and watchtowers
14
For the palace shall be forsaken; the populous city shall be deserted; the hill and the watch-tower shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;
15 until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
15
until the Spirit be poured on us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest.
16 Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field.
16
Then justice shall dwell in the wilderness; and righteousness shall abide in the fruitful field.
17 And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
17
The work of righteousness shall be shalom; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
18 My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest.
18
My people shall abide in a peaceable habitation, and in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.
19 Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down,
19
But it shall hail in the downfall of the forest; and the city shall be utterly laid low.
20 the LORD will greatly bless his people. Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up. Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.
20
Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send forth the feet of the ox and the donkey.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.