| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Look, a king will promote fairness; officials will promote justice. | 1Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him. |
| 2Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from a rainstorm; like streams of water in a dry region and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched 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. |
| 3Eyes will no longer be blind and ears will be attentive. | 3Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth, and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it. |
| 4The mind that acts rashly will possess discernment and the tongue that stutters will speak with ease and clarity. | 4Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding. Those who stammer will speak out plainly. |
| 5A fool will no longer be called honorable; a deceiver will no longer be called principled. | 5In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes. Scoundrels will not be respected. |
| 6For a fool speaks disgraceful things; his mind plans out sinful deeds. He commits godless deeds and says misleading things about the LORD; he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite and gives the thirsty nothing to 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. |
| 7A deceiver's methods are evil; he dreams up evil plans to ruin the poor with lies, even when the needy are in the 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. |
| 8An honorable man makes honorable plans; his honorable character gives him security. | 8But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity. |
| 9You complacent women, get up and listen to me! You carefree daughters, pay attention to what I say! | 9Listen, you women who lie around in ease. Listen to me, you who are so smug. |
| 10In a year's time you carefree ones will shake with fear, for the grape harvest will fail, and the fruit harvest will not arrive. | 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 complacent ones! Shake with fear, you carefree ones! Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves--put sackcloth on your waist! | 11Tremble, you women of ease; throw off your complacency. Strip off your pretty clothes, and put on burlap to show your grief. |
| 12Mourn over the field, over the delightful fields and the fruitful vine! | 12Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms and your fruitful grapevines. |
| 13Mourn over the land of my people, which is overgrown with thorns and briers, and over all the once-happy houses in the city filled with revelry. | 13For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers. Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone. |
| 14For the fortress is neglected; the once-crowded city is abandoned. Hill and watchtower are permanently uninhabited. Wild donkeys love to go there, and flocks graze there. | 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 |
| 15This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven. Then the desert will become an orchard and the orchard will be considered 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. |
| 16Justice will settle down in the desert and fairness will live in the orchard. | 16Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field. |
| 17Fairness will produce peace and result in lasting security. | 17And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever. |
| 18My people will live in peaceful settlements, in secure homes, and in safe, quiet places. | 18My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest. |
| 19Even if the forest is destroyed and the city is annihilated, | 19Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down, |
| 20you will be blessed, you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams, you who let your ox and donkey graze. | 20the 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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