Isaiah 18:1–7

Message to Ethiopia

1 Alas, oh land of whirring wings

Which lies beyond the rivers of 1aCush,

2 Which sends envoys by the sea,

Even in apapyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.

Go, swift messengers, to a nation 1btall and smooth,

To a people cfeared 2far and wide,

A powerful and oppressive nation

Whose land the rivers divide.

3 aAll you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth,

As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, byou will see it,

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

4 For thus the Lord has told me,

“I will look 1from My adwelling place quietly

Like dazzling heat in the 2bsunshine,

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

5 For abefore the harvest, as soon as the bud 1blossoms

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 aof 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 the Lord of hosts

1From a apeople 2tall and smooth,

Even from a people feared 3far and wide,

A powerful and oppressive nation,

Whose land the rivers divide—

To the bplace of the name of the Lord of hosts, even Mount Zion.