Text -- Isaiah 32:1-7 (NET)

Justice and Wisdom Will Prevail

32:1 Look, a king will promote fairness; officials will promote justice. 32:2 Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from a rainstorm; like streams of water in a dry region and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land. 32:3 Eyes will no longer be blind and ears will be attentive. 32:4 The mind that acts rashly will possess discernment and the tongue that stutters will speak with ease and clarity. 32:5 A fool will no longer be called honorable; a deceiver will no longer be called principled. 32:6 For a fool speaks disgraceful things; his mind plans out sinful deeds. He commits godless deeds and says misleading things about the Lord; he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite and gives the thirsty nothing to drink. 32:7 A deceiver’s methods are evil; he dreams up evil plans to ruin the poor with lies, even when the needy are in the right.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 32:1

¹ tn Heb “will reign according to fairness.”

² tn Heb “will rule according to justice.”

NET Notes: Isa 32:2

¹ tn Heb “a man,” but אִישׁ (’ish) probably refers here to “each” of the officials mentioned in the previous verse.

NET Notes: Isa 32:3

¹ tn Heb “Eyes that see.”

² tn The Hebrew text as vocalized reads literally “will not gaze,” but this is contradictory to the context. The verb form should be revocalized as תְּשֹׁעֶינָה (tÿsho’enah) from שָׁעַע (sha’a’, “be blinded”); see Isa 6:10; 29:9.

³ tn Heb “ears that hear.”

NET Notes: Isa 32:4

¹ tn Heb “the heart of rashness will understand knowledge”; cf. NAB “The flighty will become wise and capable.”

NET Notes: Isa 32:6

¹ tn Or “foolishness,” in a moral-ethical sense. See 9:17.

² tn Heb “and his heart commits sin”; KJV, ASV “his heart will work iniquity”; NASB “inclines toward wickedness.”

³ tn Heb “in order to do [or “so that he does”] what is godless [or “defiled”].”

⁴ tn Heb “so that he leaves empty the appetite [or “desire”] of the hungry.”

⁵ tn Heb “and the drink of the thirsty he causes to fail.”

NET Notes: Isa 32:7

¹ tn Heb “as for a deceiver, his implements [or “weapons”] are evil.”

² tn Or “he plans evil things”; NIV “he makes up evil schemes.”

³ tn Heb “to ruin the poor with words of falsehood, even when the needy speak what is just.”