A good king will rule
1A good king will rule.
He and his officials will be righteous and fair.
2Each one of them will be like
a safe place to hide when there is
a strong wind or a rain storm.
They will be like
streams of water in a dry land,
and like the shadow of a big rock
in a land where it is very hot.
3Then the eyes of everyone who can see
will not be closed anymore,
and everyone who understands
will do what God says and obey Him.
4The people who did not
want to be patient,
who did not want to listen,
will listen and understand,
and people who had problems
when they talked will speak well.
5No one will say
that a fool is a good man
or a thief is an important man.
6Because fools say things
that are foolish, and they think only about sin.
They do bad things and they say things
about God that are not_true.
They don't give food to hungry people,
and they don't give water
to people who are thirsty.
7Cruel people are always busy
doing bad things.
They plan to do wrong
and to make poor people suffer.
They are cruel to people who can not help themselves
and people who have done nothing wrong.
8But a good man always thinks
of good things that he can do,
and he protects the good people.
You must be afraid and tremble
9Women, you who don't worry
about anything and enjoy life,
you must listen to what I say.
10You feel safe now but after one year
you will tremble,
because there will be no grapes
or fruit to harvest.
11You say life is good to you,
and you are not worried,
but you must be afraid and tremble.
You must take off your clothes
and put on sack-cloth.
12Cry and beat_your_chests because
the Beautiful_Land and fertile vineyards
will be destroyed.
13Cry for the land of my people,
for the homes where they were all happy,
and for the city where everyone celebrated feasts,
because it will become
full of thorns and bushes.
14Yes, there will be no one
in the city with strong walls.
The city will no longer be full of people.
There will be only caves
where the Ophel hill has been
and the tower
where guards were standing.
It will be like this forever.
The wild donkeys will live there
and sheep and goats will eat grass there.
All will be well with you
15It will be like that until
the power of God, the new life from heaven,
comes into us.
Then the desert will be full of fruit trees
and all the fruit trees will be like a forest.
16In the desert and
among the fruit trees
people will do what is right,
and they will be fair.
17They will always have peace
and feel safe because they will
do what is right to each other.
18The Lord says his people
will live in places where
there is peace. They will be safe
and they will not worry about anything.
19Hail-stones will destroy the bushes
and the walls of the cities will fall down.
20But all will be well with you.
It will rain a lot,
you will sow wheat and
your cattle and donkeys
will go everywhere to eat.
