Isaiah 18

1 Woe to the land of whirring wings, along the rivers of Cush,

2 which sends couriers by sea, in papyrus vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people widely feared, to a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.

3 All you people of the world and dwellers of the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it; when a ram’s horn sounds, you will hear it.

4 For this is what the LORD has told me: “I will quietly look on from My dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew 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 the shoots with a pruning knife and remove and discard the branches.

6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey, and to the beasts of the land. The birds will feed on them in summer, and all the wild animals in winter.

7 At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of Hosts—from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people widely feared, from a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers—to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD of Hosts.

1 ¶ Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which [is] beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, [saying], Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.

4 For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, [and] like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

5 For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away [and] cut down the branches.

6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

7 In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.

1 Woe to the land that flieth under the sails in the shadow, on this side the waters of the land of the Moors,

2 Which sendeth tidings by sea, and saileth upon the waters in vessels of reeds. Go ye, ye swift messengers, unto the people that are rent and spoiled, unto the people that are more abominable than any other, unto the people that are here and there measured out and trodden down, to whom the rivers of waters take their land.

3 All ye that dwell on the earth, and are seated in the land, shall see the banners cast up on the mountains, and hear the sound of the trumpets.

4 For thus saith the LORD unto me, I will keep still, and look in my seat, as a heat that driveth up the rain, and as a molten dew in the heat of harvest.

5 For before the harvest the crop shall be cut off, and the unripe fruit shall wither in the blossom; and the stalks shall be cut off with pruning hooks, and the vines put away, and cut down,

6 To let the fowls of the mountains and the beasts of the earth lie together, that the fowls may nest therein in summer, and that all manner of beasts may lie in the earth in winter.

7 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the people which is torn and spoiled, which is more abominable than any other, which is here and there measured out and trodden down, whose land is taken by the rivers of waters, shall bring gifts unto the LORD of hosts unto the place where the name of the LORD of hosts is, unto mount Zion.