The blessings of Christ's kingdom, 1-8. Desolation is foreshown, 9-14. Restoration is promised to succeed, 15-20.
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.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Isaiah, Chapter 32[➚]