Isaiah 18
New Living Translation
A Message about Ethiopia
18 Listen, Ethiopia[a]—land of fluttering sails[b]
that lies at the headwaters of the Nile,
2 that sends ambassadors
in swift boats down the river.
Go, swift messengers!
Take a message to a tall, smooth-skinned people,
who are feared far and wide
for their conquests and destruction,
and whose land is divided by rivers.
3 All you people of the world,
everyone who lives on the earth—
when I raise my battle flag on the mountain, look!
When I blow the ram’s horn, listen!
4 For the Lord has told me this:
“I will watch quietly from my dwelling place—
as quietly as the heat rises on a summer day,
or as the morning dew forms during the harvest.”
5 Even before you begin your attack,
while your plans are ripening like grapes,
the Lord will cut off your new growth with pruning shears.
He will snip off and discard your spreading branches.
6 Your mighty army will be left dead in the fields
for the mountain vultures and wild animals.
The vultures will tear at the corpses all summer.
The wild animals will gnaw at the bones all winter.
7 At that time the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will receive gifts
from this land divided by rivers,
from this tall, smooth-skinned people,
who are feared far and wide for their conquests and destruction.
They will bring the gifts to Jerusalem,[c]
where the Lord of Heaven’s Armies dwells.
Isaiah 18
New International Version
A Prophecy Against Cush
18 Woe(A) to the land of whirring wings[a]
along the rivers of Cush,[b](B)
2 which sends envoys(C) by sea
in papyrus(D) boats over the water.
Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,(E)
to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive(F) nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers.(G)
3 All you people of the world,(H)
you who live on the earth,
when a banner(I) is raised on the mountains,
you will see it,
and when a trumpet(J) sounds,
you will hear it.
4 This is what the Lord says to me:
“I will remain quiet(K) and will look on from my dwelling place,(L)
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,(M)
like a cloud of dew(N) in the heat of harvest.”
5 For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off(O) the shoots with pruning knives,
and cut down and take away the spreading branches.(P)
6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey(Q)
and to the wild animals;(R)
the birds will feed on them all summer,
the wild animals all winter.
7 At that time gifts(S) will be brought to the Lord Almighty
from a people tall and smooth-skinned,(T)
from a people feared(U) far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers(V)—
the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.(W)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 18:1 Or of locusts
- Isaiah 18:1 That is, the upper Nile region
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