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• Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness,
• and princes shall rule in justice.

• ²A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind,
• and a covert from the storm,
• as streams of water in a dry place,
• as the shade of a large rock in a weary land.

• ³The eyes of those who see will not be dim,
• and the ears of those who hear will listen.

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

• ⁵The fool will no longer be called noble,
• nor the scoundrel be highly respected.

• ⁶For the fool will speak folly,
• and his heart will work iniquity,
• to practice profanity,
• and to utter error against Yahweh,
• To make empty the soul of the hungry,
• and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

• ⁷The ways of the scoundrel are evil.
• He devises wicked devices to destroy the humble with lying words,
• even when the needy speaks right.

• ⁸But the noble devises noble things;
• and he will continue in noble things.

• ⁹Rise up, you women who are at ease! Hear my voice!
• You careless daughters, give ear to my speech!

• ¹⁰For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you careless women;
• for the vintage shall fail.
• The harvest won’t come.

• ¹¹Tremble, you women who are at ease!
• Be troubled, you careless ones!
• Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked,
• and put sackcloth on your waist.

• ¹²Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
• for the fruitful vine.

• ¹³Thorns and briars will come up on my people’s land;
• yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.

• ¹⁴For the palace will be forsaken.
• The populous city will be deserted.
• The hill and the watchtower will be for dens forever,
• a delight for wild donkeys,
• a pasture of flocks;

• ¹⁵Until the Spirit is poured on us from on high,
• and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
• and the fruitful field is considered a forest.

• ¹⁶Then justice will dwell in the wilderness;
• and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field.

• ¹⁷The work of righteousness will be peace;
• and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.

• ¹⁸My people will live in a peaceful habitation,
• in safe dwellings,
• and in quiet resting places.

• ¹⁹Though hail flattens the forest,
• and the city is leveled completely.

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