Isaiah 18

Message to Ethiopia

1Woe (judgment is coming) to the land of whirring wings Which is beyond the rivers of Cush (Ethiopia),

2Which sends ambassadors by the sea, Even in vessels of papyrus on the surface of the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation [of people] tall and smooth (clean shaven), To a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation Whose land the rivers divide.

3All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, When a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it! When a trumpet is blown, you will hear it!

4For this is what the Lord has said to me, “I will be quiet and I will look on from My dwelling place, Like shimmering heat above the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

5For before the harvest, when the blossom is over And the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the sprigs [without buds] with pruning knives, And [He will] remove and cut away the spreading branches.

6They (warriors) will be left together for the mountain birds of prey, And for the beasts of the earth; And the birds of prey will [spend the] summer feeding on them, And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.

7At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the Lord of hosts From a people tall and smooth (clean shaven), From a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation, Whose land the rivers divide— To the place [of worship] of the name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion [in Jerusalem].