Isaiah 18

Oracle of Judgment on Cush

18Ah! land of the whirring of wings,

which is beyond the rivers of Cush,

²that sends messengers by the sea

and in vessels of papyrus on the surface of the waters!

Go, swift messengers, to a tall^a and smooth^b nation,

to a people feared near and far,^c

a mighty, mighty^d and trampling^e nation,

whose land rivers divide.

³All you inhabitants of the world

and dwellers of the earth,

when a signal is raised on the^f mountains, you must look,

and when a trumpet is blown,^g you must listen!

⁴For Yahweh said this to me:

“I will be quiet,

and I will look from my dwelling place

like clear heat because of light,^h

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

⁵For before the harvest, when the blossom is completeⁱ

and a blossom becomes ripening fruit,

and one cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks,

and one removes, tears away the tendrils.

⁶They shall all be left^j for birds^k of prey of the mountains

and for the animals^l of the earth.

And the birds^m of prey will pass the summer on it,

and every animal of the earth will winter on it.

⁷At that time, a giftⁿ will be brought to Yahweh of hosts

from a tall^o and smooth^p people,

and from a people feared near and far,

a mighty, mighty and trampling nation,

whose land the rivers divide,

to the place of the name of Yahweh of hosts,

the mountain of Zion.