Isaiah 32

¹ Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.

² A 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁴ For 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,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Around Isaiah 32

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Isaiah as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

It begins with a vision. In the year that King Uzziah died, the prophet sees the Lord on a throne, high and lifted up, and voices call, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Armies!” Then comes a call for someone to go, and the answer, “Here I am. Send me!”

What he is sent to say is hard and then tender. To Judah and Jerusalem, the first part of the book (chapters 1 to 39) warns of the consequences of injustice and false trust, and it promises a child who will rule on David’s throne. The second part (40 to 55) opens with “Comfort, comfort my people” and speaks to a people in exile, and it tells of a servant who suffers for others. The last part (56 to 66) looks ahead to a renewed people and to a new heavens and a new earth.

Background

Isaiah son of Amoz prophesied in Jerusalem in the second half of the eighth century before Christ, while the Assyrian threat hung over the land. Many scholars think chapters 40 to 66 come from later prophets in his tradition, speaking during and after the exile. Others hold that Isaiah wrote the whole book. Either way, the book reads as one long conversation between God and a people who swing between fear and false confidence.

How Christians read it

No prophet is quoted more in the New Testament. Readers have long weighed who the suffering servant is. Christians read the servant of chapter 53 as fulfilled in the death of Jesus, and Jewish interpretation has most often understood the servant as Israel. Passages such as 7:14 and 9:6 are read by Christians as pointing to Christ, while also having a meaning in Isaiah’s own day. These are old readings held by people who love the same pages.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 20 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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