Fairness will produce peace ¹  and result in lasting security. ² 

¹ Zion will be freed by justice, ²  and her returnees by righteousness. ³ 

Justice will settle down in the desert and fairness will live in the orchard. ¹ 

Listen to me, you stubborn people, ¹  you who distance yourself from doing what is right. ² 

This is what the Lord says, “Promote ¹  justice! Do what is right! For I am ready to deliver you; I am ready to vindicate you openly. ² 

The Lord who commands armies will be exalted ¹  when he punishes, ²  the sovereign God’s authority will be recognized when he judges. ³ 

They pronounce the guilty innocent for a payoff, they ignore the just cause of the innocent. ¹ 

I will denounce your so-called righteousness and your deeds, ¹  but they will not help you.

I will make justice the measuring line, fairness the plumb line; hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, ¹  the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.

The Lord is exalted, ¹  indeed, ²  he lives in heaven; ³  he fills Zion with justice and fairness.

they will say about me, “Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” ¹  All who are angry at him will cower before him. ² 

I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away; I am bringing my salvation near, ¹  it does not wait. I will save Zion; ²  I will adorn Israel with my splendor.” ³ 

If only you had obeyed my ¹  commandments, prosperity would have flowed to you like a river, ²  deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea. ³ 

You will be reestablished when I vindicate you. ¹  You will not experience oppression; ²  indeed, you will not be afraid. You will not be terrified, ³  for nothing frightening ⁴  will come near you.

Indeed ¹  Israel ²  is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies, the people ³  of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! ⁴  He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help! ⁵ 

For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as ¹  the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. ²  Destruction has been decreed; ³  just punishment ⁴  is about to engulf you. ⁵ 

O sky, rain down from above! Let the clouds send down showers ¹  of deliverance! Let the earth absorb it ²  so salvation may grow, ³  and deliverance may sprout up ⁴  along with it. I, the Lord, create it. ⁵ 

I solemnly make this oath ¹  – what I say is true and reliable: ²  ‘Surely every knee will bow to me, every tongue will solemnly affirm; ³ 

For a moth will eat away at them like clothes; a clothes moth will devour them like wool. But the vindication I provide ¹  will be permanent; the deliverance I give will last.”

For this reason deliverance ¹  is far from us ²  and salvation does not reach us. We wait for light, ³  but see only darkness; ⁴  we wait for ⁵  a bright light, ⁶  but live ⁷  in deep darkness. ⁸