| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. | 1Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him. |
| 2Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary 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 parched land. |
| 3Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention. | 3Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth, and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it. |
| 4The heart of the hasty will understand and know, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly. | 4Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding. Those who stammer will speak out plainly. |
| 5The fool will no more be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be honorable. | 5In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes. Scoundrels will not be respected. |
| 6For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the LORD, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink. | 6For 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. |
| 7As for the scoundrel—his devices are evil; he plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right. | 7The 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. |
| 8But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands. | 8But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity. |
| 9Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech. | 9Listen, you women who lie around in ease. Listen to me, you who are so smug. |
| 10In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come. | 10In 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. |
| 11Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist. | 11Tremble, you women of ease; throw off your complacency. Strip off your pretty clothes, and put on burlap to show your grief. |
| 12Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, | 12Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms and your fruitful grapevines. |
| 13for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city. | 13For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers. Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone. |
| 14For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks; | 14The 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 |
| 15until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. | 15until 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. |
| 16Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. | 16Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field. |
| 17And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. | 17And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever. |
| 18My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. | 18My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest. |
| 19And it will hail when the forest falls down, and the city will be utterly laid low. | 19Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down, |
| 20Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free. | 20the LORD will greatly bless his people. Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up. Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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