Isa 32 | EE | STEP | A king will be a good judge. And leaders will be fair judges. Think about those things.

Isaiah 32

God promises that his people will have a good king

1 A king will be a good judge. And leaders will be fair judges. Think about those things. ^{▼▼32:1 Some Bible students think that the words in verse 1 mean, ‘A king should be a good judge and leaders should be fair judges.’}

2 Then each leader will be like a place to hide from the wind. And he will be like someone who covers us from the storm. He will be like streams of water in a dry place. And he will be like the shadow of a big rock in very dry land.

3 ^{▼▼This verse is empty because in this translation its contents have been moved to form part of verse Isa 32:4.} ^{▼▼In this translation, this verse contains text which in some other translations appears in verses Isa 32:3-Isa 32:4.}4 Now think about these things:

· The eyes of people who see will never shut.

· And the ears of people who hear will really listen.

· Some people are too quick to speak. But then, those people will wait to understand.

· And the tongues of people who speak with difficulty now will speak clearly then.

5 Then they will not again call a fool clever. They will not say that a cheat is fair.

6 A fool says silly things and his mind thinks about bad things:

· He does things that are against God’s rules.

· He says wrong things about the LORD.

· He does not give food to hungry people.

· And he does not give a drink to thirsty people.

7 The things that a cheat does are bad. They cause people to believe what is not true. Also, his ideas are bad. He decides to hurt poor people. What he says about them is not true. And he says things like that, even when the poor people speak the truth. And those poor people are people who need help.

8 But a good person wants to do good things. Also, he does the good things that he promised to do.

An enemy (Assyria) will attack you before your good king comes

9 You women who have no problems, get ready. Listen to my voice. You ladies who feel very safe, hear my words to you.

10 In less than a year, you women who feel very safe will worry. You will worry because there will be no proper harvest of grapes. And the harvest of fruit will not happen.

11 Shake, you women who have no problems. Be afraid, you ladies who feel very safe. Take off your clothes so that you are not wearing anything. Then put a cloth about the tops of your legs. ^{▼▼32:11 Verses 9-11 We think that ‘women’ and ‘ladies’ here is like a picture of towns and cities.}

12 Hit your breasts for these reasons.

There are no good fields.
The vines do not have any fruit.

13 And the ground where our people work gives only plants with thorns and briars.

Yes, do it because there are no happy homes in the happy city.

14 It is a fact that the king will go from his beautiful house. The city where many people live will be empty. The hill (in Jerusalem) and the tall building, where people watch for enemies, will always be homes for animals. They will be a happy place for wild horses to live in. And there will be fields there where groups of animals eat the grass.

15 That will happen until God pours his Spirit on us from above the earth. Then, the wild places will become gardens and the gardens will become forests.

16 Then people will decide fairly in the wild places. And they will do good things in the fields that contain plenty of fruit.

17 And when people do good things, there will be no war. When people do good things there will be a quiet and safe time. It will continue for a long time.

18 My people will live in a place where there is no war. Their homes will be safe and they will sleep without pain.

19 ^{▼▼This verse is empty because in this translation its contents have been moved to form part of verse Isa 32:20.} ^{▼▼In this translation, this verse contains text which in some other translations appears in verses Isa 32:19-Isa 32:20.}20 Ice may knock down the trees in the forest. But, even then, people who plant seeds by the stream will be happy. Even if a storm completely destroys the city, they will let their cows and horses go to the fields freely.