Isaiah32

New Living Translation

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¹Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him.

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 everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth, and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it.

⁴Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding. Those who stammer will speak out plainly.

⁵In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes. Scoundrels will not be respected.

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.

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 generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity.

⁹Listen, you women who lie around in ease. Listen to me, you who are so smug.

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 of ease; throw off your complacency. Strip off your pretty clothes, and put on burlap to show your grief.

¹²Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms and your fruitful grapevines.

¹³For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers. Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.

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 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.

¹⁶Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field.

¹⁷And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.

¹⁸My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest.

¹⁹Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down,

²⁰the Lord will greatly bless his people. Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up. Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.

Study Guide

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Isaiah 32.

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter: Times of peace and happiness. (1-8). An interval of trouble, yet comfort and blessings in the end. (9-20).

vv1-8

Christ our righteous King, and his true disciples, are evidently here intended. The consolations and graces of his Spirit are as rivers of water in this dry land; and as the overhanging rock affords refreshing shade and shelter to the weary traveller in the desert, so his power, truth, and love, yield the believer the only real protection and refreshment in the weary land through which he journeys to heaven. Christ bore the storm himself, to keep it off from us. To him let the trembling sinner flee for refuge; for he alone can protect and refresh us in every trial. See what pains sinners take in sin; they labour at it, their hearts are intent upon it, and with art they work iniquity; but this is our comfort, that they can do no more mischief than God permits. Let us seek to have our hearts more freed from selfishness. The liberal soul devises liberal things concerning God, and desires that He will grant wisdom and prudence, the comforts of his presence, the influence of his Spirit, and in due time the enjoyment of his glory.

vv9-20

When there was so much provocation given to the holy God, bad times might be expected. Alas! how many careless ones there are, who support self-indulgence by shameful niggardliness! We deserve to be deprived of the supports of life, when we make them the food of lusts. Let such tremble and be troubled. Blessed times shall be brought in by the pouring out of the Spirit from on high; then, and not till then, there will be good times. The present state of the Jews shall continue until a more abundant pouring out of the Spirit from on high. Peace and quietness shall be found in the way and work of righteousness. True satisfaction is to be had only in true religion. And real holiness is real happiness now, and shall be perfect happiness, that is, perfect holiness for ever. The good seed of the word shall be sown in all places, and be watered by Divine grace; and laborious, patient labourers shall be sent forth into God's husbandry.

Key Words

BeholdH2005Hebrew

הֵן: lo!; also (as expressing surprise) if

kingH4428Hebrew

מֶלֶךְ: a king

reignH4427Hebrew

מָלַךְ: to reign; inceptively, to ascend the throne; causatively, to induct into royalty; hence (by implication) to take counsel

righteousnessH6664Hebrew

צֶדֶק: the right (natural, moral or legal); also (abstractly) equity or (figuratively) prosperity

princesH8269Hebrew

שַׂר: a head person (of any rank or class)

ruleH8323Hebrew

שָׂרַר: to have (transitively, exercise; reflexively, get) dominion

justiceH4941Hebrew

מִשְׁפָּט: properly, a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree (human or (participant's) divine law, individual or collective), including the act, the place, the suit, the crime, and the penalty; abstractly, justice, including a participant's right or privilege (statutory or customary), or even a style

EachH376Hebrew

אִישׁ: a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation)

hiding placeH4224Hebrew

מַחֲבֵא: a refuge

windH7307Hebrew

רוּחַ: wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension, a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions)