1Behold, for righteousness a king shall reign, and as for princes, for judgment (mishpat) they shall rule.
2And a man (ish) shall be as a hiding place from the spirit (ruach), and a covert from the storm, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a heavy rock in a weary land.
3And the eyes of those who see shall not be closed, and the ears of those who hear shall attend.
4And the heart of the hasty shall understand to know, and the tongue of the stammerers shall hasten to speak clearly.
5The vile shall no more be called noble, and to the knave it shall not be said, "bountiful."
6For the vile speaks villainy, and his heart works iniquity, to practice profaneness, and to speak error against YHWH, to make empty the soul (nephesh) of the hungry, and the drink of the thirsty he causes to fail.
7And the knave—his instruments are evil; he devises wicked devices to ruin the poor with words of falsehood, and the needy when he speaks judgment (mishpat).
8But the noble devises noble things, and he upon noble things shall stand.
9You women at ease, rise up, hear my voice; you confident daughters, give ear to my saying.
10Days upon a year you shall be troubled, you confident ones; for the vintage has failed, the ingathering shall not come.
11Tremble, you women at ease; be troubled, you confident ones; strip yourselves, and make bare, and gird upon the loins.
12Upon the breasts they mourn, for the fields of delight, for the fruitful vine.
13Upon the ground (adamah) of my people thorn and brier shall come up; yea, upon all the houses of joy, the exultant city.
14For the palace is forsaken, the tumult of the city abandoned; the hill and the watchtower are become dens forever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
15Until the spirit (ruach) is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is reckoned as a forest.
16And judgment (mishpat) shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness shall abide in the fruitful field.
17And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the labor (avodah) of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
18And my people shall dwell in a habitation of peace, and in tabernacles (mishkan) of security, and in quiet resting places.
19And it shall hail in the downfall of the forest, and in the lowland the city shall be brought low.
20Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who send forth the foot of the ox and the ass.