The Holy Bible: Revised Common Version

1  Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness/
and princes shall rule in judgment.

2  And a man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind/
and a covert from the tempest,/
as streams of water in a dry place,/
as the shade of a great rock in a weary land.

3  And the eyes of those who see shall not be dim,/
and the ears of those who hear shall listen.

4  The heart of the rash/
shall understand knowledge,/
and the tongue of the stammerers/
shall be ready to speak plainly.

5  The vile person shall no longer be called liberal,/
nor the churl said to be bountiful.

6  For the vile person will speak villainy/
and his heart will work iniquity,/
to practice hypocrisy/
and to utter error against the LORD,/
to make the soul of the hungry empty/
and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

7  The instruments of the churl are evil./
He devises wicked devices/
to destroy the poor with lying words,/
even when the needy speaks right.

8  But the liberal devises liberal things,/
and by liberal things he shall stand.

9  Rise up, you women who are at ease./
Hear my voice, you careless daughters./
Give ear to my speech.

10 Many days and years you shall be troubled,/
you careless women,/
for the vintage shall fail,/
the gathering shall not come.

11 Tremble, you women who are at ease./
Be troubled, you careless ones./
Strip, make yourselves bare,/
and gird sackcloth upon your loins.

12 They shall lament for the breasts,/
for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

13 Upon the land of my people/
thorns and briers shall come up,/
and also upon all the houses of joy/
in the joyous city.

14 For the palaces shall be forsaken,/
the multitude of the city shall be left,/
the forts and towers shall be for dens forever,/
a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks,

15 Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,/
and the wilderness is a fruitful field,/
and the fruitful field is counted for a forest.

16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness/
and righteousness shall remain in the fruitful field.

17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace,/
and the effect of righteousness,/
quietness and assurance forever.

18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation,/
in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places,

19 When it hails, coming down on the forest,/
and the city is utterly laid low.

20 Blessed are you who sow beside all waters,/
who send forth the feet of the ox and the donkey.