Isaiah 18
18
A Prophecy Against Cush
1How terrible it will be for the land
whose armies are like large numbers of flying insects!
That land is along the rivers of Cush.
2Its people send messengers on the Nile River.
They travel over the water in papyrus boats.
Messengers, hurry back home!
Go back to your people,
who are tall and have smooth skin.
Everyone is afraid of them.
They are warriors whose language is different from ours.
Their land is divided up by rivers.
3Pay attention, all you people of the world!
Listen, all you who live on earth!
Banners will be lifted up on the mountains.
And you will see them.
Trumpets will be blown.
And you will hear them.
4The Lord says to me,
“I will look down from heaven, where I live.
I will be as quiet as summer heat in the sunshine.
I will be as quiet as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5A farmer cuts off new growth with pruning knives.
He cuts down spreading branches and takes them away.
He does it before the grapes are harvested.
That’s when the blooms are gone and the grapes are ripe.
In the same way, the Lord will cut off the nations
that are gathered against his people.
6Their dead bodies will be left for the birds of the mountains to eat.
They will be left for the wild animals.
The birds will eat the dead bodies all summer long.
The wild animals will eat them all through the winter.
7At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord who rules over all.
The people who are tall and have smooth skin will bring them.
Everyone is afraid of those people.
They are warriors whose language is different from ours.
Their land is divided up by rivers.
They will bring their gifts to Mount Zion. That’s where the Lord who rules over all has put his Name.
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Isaiah 18: NIrV
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Isaiah 18
18
Ethiopia Will Be Punished
1 #
Zep 2.12. Downstream from Ethiopia#18.1 Ethiopia: See the note at 11.11.
lies the country of Egypt,
swarming with insects.#18.1 insects: Or “sailing ships.”
2Egypt sends messengers
up the Nile River
on ships made of reeds.#18.2 reeds: Ancient Egypt was famous for the papyrus reeds that grew in the Nile Delta.
Send them fast to Ethiopia,
whose people are tall
and have smooth skin.
Their land is divided by rivers;
they are strong and brutal,
feared all over the world.#18.2 world: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 2.
3Everyone on this earth,
listen with care!
A signal will be given
on the mountains,
and you will hear a trumpet.
4The Lord said to me,
“I will calmly look down
from my home above—
as calmly as the sun at noon
or clouds in the heat
of harvest season.”
5Before the blossoms
can turn into grapes,
God will cut off the sprouts
and hack off the branches.
6Ethiopians will be food
for mountain vultures
during the summer
and for wild animals
during the winter.
7Those Ethiopians are tall and their skin is smooth. They are feared all over the world, because they are strong and brutal. But at that time they will come from their land divided by rivers, and they will bring gifts to the Lord All-Powerful, who is worshiped on Mount Zion.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.