World English Bible
- Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.
- A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the storm, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a large rock in a weary land.
- The eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen.
- The heart of the rash will understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.
- The fool will no longer be called noble, nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
- For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice profanity, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
- The ways of the scoundrel are evil. He devises wicked plans to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.
- But the noble devises noble things, and he will continue in noble things.
- Rise up, you women who are at ease! Hear my voice! You careless daughters, give ear to my speech!
- For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you careless women; for the vintage will fail. The harvest won’t come.
- Tremble, you women who are at ease! Be troubled, you careless ones! Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked, and put sackcloth on your waist.
- Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
- Thorns and briers will come up on my people’s land; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
- For the palace will be forsaken. The populous city will be deserted. The hill and the watchtower will be for dens forever, a delight for wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks,
- until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is considered a forest.
- Then justice will dwell in the wilderness; and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field.
- The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
- My people will live in a peaceful habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting places,
- though hail flattens the forest, and the city is leveled completely.
- Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out the feet of the ox and the donkey.
Isaiah 32
Isaiah uses a surprising echo. The Hebrew word sha’anan describes the women who are “at ease” while danger approaches (verses 9–11). It also describes the “quiet resting places” God promises his people (verse 18). God is not against rest. He is against a rest that depends on refusing to see.
The failed vintage Isaiah foretells would mean more than an empty wine cup. In ancient Judah, vines were part of a household’s food, work, and celebrations. Isaiah calls people to mourn what they have taken for granted. His words to the women do not place the city’s guilt on women alone; they expose a confidence that can settle over a whole community when its life seems fruitful. After Judah’s temptation to seek safety through Egypt, this chapter asks a harder question: What kind of peace can survive when our arrangements fail?
The answer begins with a righteous king—and with leaders who become shelter rather than another source of fear. Christians rightly hear in this promise the coming of Christ. Yet Isaiah’s vision also presses upon everyone who exercises power. Under just rule, eyes open, ears listen, and the vulnerable can speak plainly (verses 3–4). Even public language is repaired. The fool is no longer called noble; the scoundrel no longer receives honor. The Hebrew word translated “noble” can also suggest generosity. A society is in trouble when it praises people as generous while their plans leave the hungry empty and silence the needy who speak rightly (verses 5–8).
Then comes a pause over an abandoned city: thorns, empty buildings, wild donkeys. Its desolation seems endless—until the Spirit is poured out from on high (verse 15). That small word interrupts what looked final. The Spirit does not merely help people feel hopeful about the ruins. He makes the wilderness fruitful and causes justice to dwell there. The thorns recall the curse upon the ground in Genesis 3:17–18; Isaiah looks toward a renewal that reaches both the land and the lives built upon it.
“The work of righteousness will be peace,” Isaiah says (verse 17). Peace is not a pleasant feeling we must somehow produce. It grows where God’s Spirit makes things right. Even in this vision hail can fall and a city can be brought low (verse 19). The promised rest is not the absence of every storm; it is life sheltered by God’s just reign. That is why the chapter ends with people sowing seed. They have not mistaken ease for faith. They can work for the future because God has given them reason to hope.
For further reading: Psalm 72:12–14; Acts 2:17–18; James 3:18. A fitting hymn is “Come Down, O Love Divine.”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, uncover the false peace we cling to. Pour out your Spirit, teach us to hear the needy, and make us willing to sow what is good, even after loss. Amen.