The Righteous King

321 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice. 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 them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. 4 And the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. 5 The fool shall be no more called noble, nor the churl said to be bountiful. 6 For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise profaneness, and to utter error against Jehovah, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. 7 And the instruments of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the meek with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. 8 But the noble deviseth noble things; and in noble things shall he continue.

Women of Jerusalem Warned

9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease, [and] hear my voice; ye careless daughters, give ear unto my speech. 10 For days beyond a year shall ye be troubled, ye careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the ingathering shall not come. 11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; strip you, and make you bare, and gird [sackcloth] upon your loins. 12 They shall smite upon the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. 13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city. 14 For the palace shall be forsaken; the populous city shall be deserted; the hill and the watch-tower shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; 15 until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest. 16 Then justice shall dwell in the wilderness; and righteousness shall abide in the fruitful field. 17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence for ever. 18 And my people shall abide in a peaceable habitation, and in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places. 19 But it shall hail in the downfall of the forest; and the city shall be utterly laid low. 20 Blessed are yet that sow beside all waters, that send forth the feet of the ox and the ass.

The LORD's Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem

31 For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water; 2 the mighty man, and the man of war; the judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the elder; 3 the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counsellor, and the expert artificer, and the skilful enchanter. 4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. 5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the old man, and the base against the honorable. 6 When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, [saying], Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand; 7 in that day shall he lift up [his voice], saying, I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: ye shall not make me ruler of the people. 8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

9 The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have done evil unto themselves. 10 Say ye of the righteous, that [it shall be] well [with him]; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 11 Woe unto the wicked! [it shall be] ill [with him]; for what his hands have done shall be done unto him. 12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they that lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. 13 Jehovah standeth up to contend, and standeth to judge the peoples. 14 Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and the princes thereof: It is ye that have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses: 15 what mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the face of the poor? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

Judgment on the Daughters of Zion

16 Moreover Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet; 17 therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts. 18 In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, and the cauls, and the crescents; 19 the pendants, and the bracelets, and the mufflers; 20 the headtires, and the ankle chains, and the sashes, and the perfume-boxes, and the amulets; 21 the rings, and the nose-jewels; 22 the festival robes, and the mantles, and the shawls, and the satchels; 23 the hand-mirrors, and the fine linen, and the turbans, and the veils. 24 And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet spices there shall be rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well set hair, baldness; and instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth; branding instead of beauty. 25 Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. 26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate and sit upon the ground.