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
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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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers