Isaiah 32 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Late 700s BC, within the Assyrian crisis, looking ahead to a reformed royal court
Location
Judah, its capital Jerusalem, and the surrounding farmland and vineyards
Audience
The people of Judah, with a direct address to the wealthy women of the city
Situation
Isaiah describes a coming king and officials who rule justly, giving shelter like a rock in dry country, and a society in which the fool is no longer called noble. He then warns the complacent women of Jerusalem that within a year the grape harvest will fail, until God's spirit is poured out and the wilderness becomes farmland.
Key Background
Addressing the leisured women of the capital was a recognized prophetic device for naming the whole upper class, since their comfort depended on the estates and tax revenue that a siege would wipe out. In a land with unreliable rainfall, shade from a rock and streams in a dry place were survival images rather than decoration, and a failed vintage meant a year of debt. The picture of judgment lasting until the spirit is poured out reflects a common prophetic pattern in which ruin is a stage rather than the ending.
Look — a will rule with justice, and leaders will govern with what is right.
Each one will be like shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry wasteland, like the of a in an
Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be tight, and the ears of those who hear will truly listen.
The mind of the will learn to understand, and the tongue of the will speak clearly and well.
The will no longer be called generous, and the will no longer be called noble.
Because the fool speaks foolishness, and his mind plots what is — practicing what is twisted, spreading lies about Yahweh, leaving the hungry with nothing, and keeping water from the thirsty.
The scoundrel's methods are destructive — he devises wicked schemes to ruin the with lies, even when the poor person's case is just.
But the person plans things, and by things they stand firm.
Women at — stand up and hear my voice! Daughters who feel so secure — listen to what I say!
In a little more than a year you will you comfortable ones — because the grape harvest will fail, the gathering of fruit will not come.
Tremble, you women at ease! Shudder, you comfortable ones! Strip yourselves bare, wrap around your waists.
in grief for the beautiful fields, for the fruitful vine,
for the land of my people where and grow up — yes, for every house of celebration in the city that once rejoiced.
Because the will be abandoned, the crowded city deserted. The hill and the will become bare places forever — a playground for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks —
until The is out on us from the heights, and the wilderness becomes a garden, and the is counted as a forest.
Then will settle in the wilderness, and what is will dwell in the garden.
The work of what is right will be peace, and the result of what is right will be quiet forever.
My people will live in a of peace, in safe places to rest, in undisturbed places of ease.
But will flatten the forest, and the city will be leveled completely.
How it will be for you who every stream, who let the ox and donkey roam free.