Isaiah 18
18
God’s Message to Ethiopia
1Look at the land along the rivers of Ethiopia where you can hear the buzzing of insect wings. 2That land sends people down the Nile River in reed boats.#18:2 reed boats These boats were made by tying many reeds (a type of water plant) together.
Fast messengers, go to the people
who are tall and smooth,
who are feared far and wide.
Go to that powerful nation that defeats other countries
and whose land is divided by rivers.
Go warn them!
3Like a flag on a hill,
everyone on earth will see what happens.
Like a trumpet call,
everyone in the country will hear it.
4The Lord said, “I will be in the place prepared for me.#18:4 the place prepared for me Probably the Temple in Jerusalem. I will quietly watch these things happen: On a beautiful summer day, at noon, people will be resting. (It will be during the hot harvest time when there is no rain, but only early morning dew.) 5Then something terrible will happen. Earlier in the year, the flowers bloomed and the new grapes formed buds and began to grow. But before the crop is harvested, the enemy will come and cut the plants. They will break the vines and throw them away. 6The vines will be left for the birds from the mountains and the wild animals to eat. The birds will feed on them throughout the summer, and that winter the wild animals will eat the vines.”
7At that time a special offering will be brought to the Lord All-Powerful from the people who are tall and smooth, from those who are feared far and wide, from that powerful nation that defeats other countries and whose land is divided by rivers.#18:7 Or “At that time the people who are tall and smooth, who are feared far and wide, that powerful nation who defeats other countries and whose land is divided by rivers, those people will be brought to the Lord All-Powerful as a special gift.” This offering will be brought to the Lord’s place on Mount Zion.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
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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