Isaiah 18

1Oy ! The land of whirring wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

2that sends ambassadors by sea, in papyrus vessels upon the water. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, a nation powerful and oppressive, whose land the rivers divide.

3All you inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, look! when a shofar is blown, listen!

4For so Adonai has said to me: “I will remain quiet, and look from My dwelling place, like shimmering heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in harvest heat.”

5For before the harvest, as soon as blossoming is over and flower becomes ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, He will cut back and remove the twigs.

6They will be left together for the mountain birds of prey and the beasts of the land. The birds of prey will summer on them, and all the beasts of the land will winter upon them.

7At that time tribute will be brought to Adonai-Tzva’ot from a nation tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide, a nation powerful and oppressive, whose land the rivers divide— to the place of the Name of Adonai-Tzva’ot—Mount Zion!