1 Look, a king will reign with righteousness, and princes will govern with justice.
2 Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a massive rock in a parched country.
3 The eyes of those who see will no longer be shut, and the ears of those who hear will pay attention.
4 The mind of the rash will grasp knowledge, and the tongue of those who stammer will speak quickly and plainly.
5 No longer will the fool be called noble or the scoundrel be thought of as honorable.
6 For the fool speaks foolishness, and his mind plots wickedness: to act godlessly, to spread error about the LORD, to leave the hungry empty and keep water from the thirsty.
7 The scoundrel's methods are wicked; he invents evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the needy one's cause is just.
8 But the noble man makes noble plans, and he stands firm by noble deeds.
9 You women who live at ease, get up and listen to my voice! You daughters who feel so secure, hear what I say!
10 In little more than a year you who feel so secure will shudder, for the grape harvest will fail and the fruit harvest will not come.
11 Tremble, you women at ease; shudder, you who feel secure! Strip off your clothes, bare yourselves and put sackcloth around your waists.
12 Beat your breasts over the pleasant fields and the fruitful vines,
13 over my people's land, overgrown with thorns and briers, yes, over all the houses of merriment in the reveling city.
14 The palace will be deserted and the noisy city abandoned; citadel and watchtower will become caves forever, a delight for wild donkeys and a pasture for flocks,
15 until the Spirit is poured out on us from above, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.
16 Then justice will live in the desert, and righteousness will make its home in the fertile field.
17 Righteousness will produce peace, and the result of righteousness will be quiet and security forever.
18 My people will live in peaceful pastures, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
19 But hail will come down on the forest, and the city will be brought utterly low.
20 Blessed are you who sow your seed by every stream and let the ox and the donkey roam free!