Isa 18 | LSB | STEP | Alas, O land of whirring wings Which lies beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

Isaiah 18

A Message to Ethiopia

1 Alas, O land of whirring wings
Which lies beyond the rivers of ^{▼▼Or Cush, cf. Gen 10:6}Ethiopia,
2 Which sends envoys by the sea,
Even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.
Go, swift messengers, to a nation ^{▼▼Lit drawn out}tall and smooth,
To a people feared ^{▼▼Lit from it and beyond}far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation
Whose land the rivers divide.
3 All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth,
As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, you will see it,
And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.
4 For thus Yahweh has told me,

“I will look ^{▼▼Lit in}from My dwelling place quietly
Like dazzling heat in the ^{▼▼Lit light}sunshine,
Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For before the harvest, as soon as the bud ^{▼▼Lit is finished}blossoms
And the flower becomes a ripening grape,
Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives
And remove and cut away the spreading branches.
6 They will be left together for 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.
7 At that time a gift of homage will be brought to Yahweh of hosts
^{▼▼ As in DSS and some ancient versions; M.T. implies Consisting of a people}From a people ^{▼▼Lit drawn out}tall and smooth,
Even from a people feared ^{▼▼Lit from it and beyond}far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the place of the name of Yahweh of hosts, even Mount Zion.