1.
Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.
2.
And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
3.
And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.
4.
The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
5.
The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.
6.
For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7.
The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.
8.
But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.
9.
Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
10.
Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
11.
Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
12.
They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
13.
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
A TERRIBLE CROP
‘Upon the land of My people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city.’
Isaiah 32:13
I. The prophets spoke of things to come, but they spoke of things present also; they held up a light in a dark place, imperfectly understood in their own days, but bright and clear when the full day arose, of which they had obscurely spoken; but they also held up a light, a broad blazing light, to the men of their own times, which would never become clearer than it then was, and would be hardly ever again so clear. That is, they were teachers of righteousness to their own people; the sins which they reproved were the sins which they saw daily committed; the judgments which they threatened were the judgments which these sins would draw down.
II. Our times and our own nation more closely resemble the time of Isaiah’s preaching, and the nation of Israel to whom he preached, than any other time or nation that could be named.—The worship of God was established by law amongst the Israelites as it is amongst us. Israel, in the days of Isaiah, was full of great riches and great poverty—great covetousness and luxury on one side, great misery and carelessness of God on the other. Who can look through this land at this moment and not see the same state of things here? Israel, in the days of Isaiah, had too many of those who scorned at God’s Word and His promises; and of this, too, they who know what is the present state of England know that there is too much amongst us. The prophets, then, are in a most remarkable manner the mirror or glass in which we may see our own likeness. To us, God’s Christian Israel, a promise is made of a state of overwhelming blessing after a time of fearful judgments—judgments for the punishment of the tares, and for the cleansing and perfecting of the good seed; till at last, when all that do evil or that tempt to evil shall be gathered out of the Kingdom of God, the righteous may shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
—Rev. Dr. T. Arnold.
14.
Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
15.
Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
16.
Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
17.
And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
18.
And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
19.
When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.
20.
Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.