UNROLL
Noon in the Judean wilderness: a great boulder casts a deep pool of shade on pale baked ground, a thin trickle of spring water at its foot.

Woe and a King

Isaiah 32

Who do you run to when life gets hot and dry?

20 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
  2. 6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
  3. 7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
  4. 13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  5. 24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
  6. 28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beautyChapter 32
  7. 36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
  8. 40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
  9. 49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
  10. 56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

A Righteous King

Isaiah

Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,

and princes will rule with justice.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Isaiah
Isaiah

Each will be like a shelter from the wind,

a refuge from the storm,

like streams of water in a dry land,

like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.

Isaiah

Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed,

and the ears of those who hear will listen.

The mind of the rash will know and understand,

and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently.

Isaiah

No longer will a fool be called noble,

nor a scoundrel be respected.

Isaiah
Isaiah

For a fool speaks foolishness;

his mind plots iniquity.

He practices ungodliness

and speaks falsely about the LORD;

he leaves the hungry empty

and deprives the thirsty of drink.

The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive;

he hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies,

even when the plea of the needy is just.

Isaiah

But a noble man makes honorable plans;

he stands up for worthy causes.

Question

Quick question

Isaiah gives four pictures of what a righteous ruler is to the people under him. Look at 32:2.

What will each righteous ruler be like (32:2)?

The Women of Jerusalem

Isaiah
Autumn in a hillside vineyard: shriveled grape clusters hang unpicked on the vines, empty harvest baskets stacked by a dry rock-cut winepress, fig trees bare.

Stand up, you complacent women;

listen to me.

Give ear to my word,

you overconfident daughters.

In a little more than a year you will tremble,

O secure ones.

For the grape harvest will fail

and the fruit harvest will not arrive.

Isaiah

Shudder, you ladies of leisure;

tremble, you daughters of complacency.

Strip yourselves bare

and put sackcloth around your waists.

Isaiah
Isaiah

Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,

for the fruitful vines,

and for the land of my people,

overgrown with thorns and briers—

even for every house of merriment

in this city of revelry.

Isaiah
Evening on an abandoned hill quarter of a city: fallen dressed stones, empty doorways and a roofless watchtower, grass between the stones, wild donkeys and a few sheep grazing.

For the palace will be forsaken,

the busy city abandoned.

The hill and the watchtower will become caves forever—

the delight of wild donkeys

and a pasture for flocks—

until the Spirit is poured out

upon us from on high.

Isaiah

Then the desert will be an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest.

Isaiah

Then justice will inhabit the wilderness,

and righteousness will dwell in the fertile field.

Isaiah

The work of righteousness will be peace;

the service of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever.

Isaiah 32:17

Isaiah

Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place,

in safe and secure places of rest.

But hail will level the forest,

and the city will sink to the depths.

Isaiah
Soft morning in a well-watered valley: a farmer sows seed by a brimming stream while an ox and a donkey graze loose in green grass beside him.

Blessed are those who sow beside abundant waters,

who let the ox and donkey range freely.

0:07

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Pray

Lord Jesus, King who reigns in righteousness, be my shelter from the wind and my shade in a dry land. Pour out Your Spirit on what is barren in me, until Your righteousness brings peace and quiet confidence. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 32

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A verse to carry with you

The work of righteousness will be peace; the service of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever.

Isaiah 32:17

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