Isaiah 18

God’s Message to Cush

18How terrible it will be for the land beyond the rivers of Cush.

It is filled with the sound of wings.

²That land sends messengers across the sea;

they go on the water in boats made of reeds.

Go, quick messengers,

to a people who are tall and smooth-skinned,

who are feared everywhere.

They are a powerful nation that defeats other nations.

Their land is divided by rivers.

³All you people of the world, look!

Everyone who lives in the world, look!

You will see a banner raised on a mountain.

You will hear a trumpet sound.

⁴The Lord said to me,

“I will quietly watch from where I live,

like heat in the sunshine,

like the dew in the heat of harvest time.”

⁵The time will come, after the flowers have bloomed and before the harvest,

when new grapes will be budding and growing.

The enemy will cut the plants with knives;

he will cut down the vines and take them away.

⁶They will be left for the birds of the mountains

and for the wild animals.

Birds will feed on them all summer,

and wild animals will eat them that winter.”

⁷At that time a gift will be brought to the Lord All-Powerful

from the people who are tall and smooth-skinned,

who are feared everywhere.

They are a powerful nation that defeats other nations.

Their land is divided by rivers.

These gifts will be brought to the place of the Lord All-Powerful,

to Mount Zion.