Isaiah

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Message to Ethiopia

18 
Woe, land of whirring wings

Which lies beyond the rivers of [a]Cush,

2 Which sends messengers by the sea,

Even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.

Go, swift messengers, to a nation [b]tall and smooth,

To a people feared [c]far and wide,

A powerful and oppressive nation

Whose land the rivers divide.

3 All you who inhabit the world, and live on earth,

As soon as a flag is raised on the mountains, you will see it,

And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.

4 For this is what the Lord has told me:

“I will quietly look [d]from My dwelling place

Like dazzling heat in the [e]sunshine,

Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

5 For before the harvest, as soon as the bud [f]blossoms

And the flower becomes a ripening grape,

He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,

And remove and tear away the spreading branches.

6 They will be left together for mountain birds of prey,

And for the animals of the earth;

And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them,

And all the animals of the earth will spend harvest time on them.

7 At that time a gift of tribute will be brought to the Lord of armies

[g]From a people [h]tall and smooth,

From a people feared [i]far and wide,

A powerful and oppressive nation,

Whose land the rivers divide—

To the place of the name of the Lord of armies, to Mount Zion.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 18:1 Or Ethiopia
  2. Isaiah 18:2 Lit drawn out
  3. Isaiah 18:2 Lit from it and beyond
  4. Isaiah 18:4 Lit in
  5. Isaiah 18:4 Lit light
  6. Isaiah 18:5 Lit is finished
  7. Isaiah 18:7 Some ancient versions and DSS; MT implies Consisting of a people
  8. Isaiah 18:7 Lit drawn out
  9. Isaiah 18:7 Lit from it and beyond