New Living Translation NLT
New International Version NIV
1 Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him.
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See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with 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.
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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 thirsty 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.
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Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding. Those who stammer will speak out plainly.
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The fearful heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.
5 In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes. Scoundrels will not be respected.
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No longer will the fool be 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.
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For 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.
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.
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Scoundrels use wicked methods, they make up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.
8 But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity.
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But the noble make noble plans, and by noble deeds they stand.
9 Listen, you women who lie around in ease. Listen to me, you who are so smug.
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You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say!
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.
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In little more than a year you who feel secure will tremble; the grape harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will 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.
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Tremble, you complacent women; shudder, you daughters who feel secure! Strip off your fine clothes and wrap yourselves in rags.
12 Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms and your fruitful grapevines.
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Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines
13 For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers. Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.
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and 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.
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
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The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for 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.
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till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.
16 Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field.
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The LORD’s justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field.
17 And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
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The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.
18 My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest.
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My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
19 Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down,
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Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely,
20 the LORD will greatly bless his people. Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up. Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.
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how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.
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.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.