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32. Kingdom of Righeousness

¹ See, a king will reign in righteousness
   and rulers will rule with justice.
² Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
   and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
   and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

    ³ Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed,
   and the ears of those who hear will listen.
⁴ The fearful heart will know and understand,
   and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.
⁵ No longer will the fool be called noble
   nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
⁶ For fools speak folly,
   their hearts are bent on evil:
They practice ungodliness
   and spread error concerning the LORD;
the hungry they leave empty
   and from the thirsty they withhold water.
⁷ Scoundrels use wicked methods,
   they make up evil schemes
to destroy the poor with lies,
   even when the plea of the needy is just.
⁸ But the noble make noble plans,
   and by noble deeds they stand.

The Women of Jerusalem

    ⁹ You women who are so complacent,
   rise up and listen to me;
you daughters who feel secure,
   hear what I have to say!
¹⁰ In little more than a year
   you who feel secure will tremble;
the grape harvest will fail,
   and the harvest of fruit will not come.
¹¹ Tremble, you complacent women;
   shudder, you daughters who feel secure!
Strip off your fine clothes
   and wrap yourselves in rags.
¹² Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
   for the fruitful vines
¹³ and for the land of my people,
   a land overgrown with thorns and briers—
yes, mourn for all houses of merriment
   and for this city of revelry.
¹⁴ The fortress will be abandoned,
   the noisy city deserted;
citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever,
   the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
¹⁵ till the Spirit is poured on us from on high,
   and the desert becomes a fertile field,
   and the fertile field seems like a forest.
¹⁶ The LORD’s justice will dwell in the desert,
   his righteousness live in the fertile field.
¹⁷ The fruit of that righteousness will be peace;
   its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.
¹⁸ My people will live in peaceful dwelling places,
   in secure homes,
   in undisturbed places of rest.
¹⁹ Though hail flattens the forest
   and the city is leveled completely,
²⁰ how blessed you will be,
   sowing your seed by every stream,
   and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.

16. And judgment shall dwell in the wilderness. The Prophet shews what is the actual condition of the Church, that is, when justice and judgment prevail; for men ought not to be like cattle, which seek nothing but plenty of food and abundance of outward things. And hence it is plain enough that the Jews were not confined to transitory enjoyments, so as to have their hope fixed exclusively on earthly blessings, as some fanatics imagine. They were enjoined to attend to that which was of the greatest importance, that justice and judgment should prevail; and undoubtedly they knew that true happiness consists in it. It is therefore our duty to look chiefly to this, that we should not, like hogs in a sty, judge of the happiness of life by abundance of bread and wine; for this is the end of all the blessings which the Lord bestows upon us, this is the object of our deliverance, “that we should serve him,” as Zacharias says, “in holiness and righteousness.” (Luke 1:74, 75.)

Under the terms “justice” and “judgment,” as we have already seen, he includes all that belongs to uprightness; for although these two words relate strictly to that equity which ought to be mutually cultivated among us, yet, since it is customary to describe the observation of the whole law by the duties of the second table, here the Prophet, by a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, embraces also piety and the worship of God. The Prophets are accustomed to notice the chief duties of brotherly kindness, and those which belong to the second table, because by these, more than by any others, we manifest the real state of our feelings towards God.

When he declares that justice and judgment have their abode in the wilderness, as well as in the cultivated fields, this shews more clearly that the abundance of blessings promised a little before was so great that, when men saw it, they would consider that those fields which they formerly looked upon as very excellent had been comparatively barren.