Isaiah 18
18
The Lord’s Message to Cush
1Woe to the land of buzzing insect wings#18:1 Or of sailing ships
beyond the rivers of Cush,#2Kg 19:9; Is 20:3–5; Ezk 30:4–5,9; Zph 2:12; 3:10
2which sends envoys by sea,
in reed vessels over the water.
Go, swift messengers,
to a nation tall and smooth-skinned,
to a people feared far and near,
a powerful nation with a strange language,#18:2 Hb obscure
whose land is divided by rivers.
3All you inhabitants of the world
and you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains, look!
When a ram’s horn sounds, listen!
4For the Lord said to me:
I will quietly look out from my place,
like shimmering heat in sunshine,
like a rain cloud in harvest heat.
5For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over
and the blossom becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife,
and tear away and remove the branches.
6They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills
and for the wild animals of the land.
The birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them,
and all the wild animals the winter.
7At that time a gift will be brought to the Lord of Armies from#18:7 DSS, LXX, Vg; MT omits from a people tall and smooth-skinned,#Ps 68:31; Is 45:14; Zph 3:10; Ac 8:27–38 a people feared far and near, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers — to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of Armies.
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Isaiah 18: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Isaiah 18
18
A Message about Ethiopia
1Listen, Ethiopia#18:1a Hebrew Cush.—land of fluttering sails#18:1b Or land of many locusts; Hebrew reads land of whirring wings.
that lies at the headwaters of the Nile,
2that 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.
3All 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!
4For 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.”
5Even 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.
6Your 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.
7At 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,#18:7 Hebrew to Mount Zion.
where the Lord of Heaven’s Armies dwells.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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