Isaiah 18
18
People Mighty and Merciless
1-2Doom to the land of flies and mosquitoes
beyond the Ethiopian rivers,
Shipping emissaries all over the world,
down rivers and across seas.
Go, swift messengers,
go to this people tall and handsome,
This people held in respect everywhere,
this people mighty and merciless,
from the land crisscrossed with rivers.
3Everybody everywhere,
all earth-dwellers:
When you see a flag flying on the mountain, look!
When you hear the trumpet blown, listen!
4-6For here’s what God told me:
“I’m not going to say anything,
but simply look on from where I live,
Quiet as warmth that comes from the sun,
silent as dew during harvest.”
And then, just before harvest, after the blossom
has turned into a maturing grape,
He’ll step in and prune back the new shoots,
ruthlessly hack off all the growing branches.
He’ll leave them piled on the ground
for birds and animals to feed on—
Fodder for the summering birds,
fodder for the wintering animals.
7Then tribute will be brought to God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
brought from this people tall and handsome,
This people once held in respect everywhere,
this people once mighty and merciless,
From the land crisscrossed with rivers,
to Mount Zion, God’s place.
Currently Selected:
Isaiah 18: MSG
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Isaiah 18
18
Oracle of Judgment on Cush
1Ah! land of the whirring of wings,
which is beyond the rivers of Cush,
2that sends messengers by the sea
and in vessels of papyrus on the surface of the waters!
Go, swift messengers, to a tall#Literally “stretched out” and smooth#Literally “peeled,” “wiped clean,” or “hairless” nation,
to a people feared near and far,#Literally “from this and beyond”
a mighty, mighty#Perhaps this is a gibberish phrase in Hebrew, qaw-qaw and trampling#Meaning uncertain nation,
whose land rivers divide.
3All you inhabitants of the world
and dwellers of the earth,
when a signal is raised on the#Literally “as a raising of a signal” mountains, you must look,
and when a trumpet is blown,#Literally “as a blowing of a trumpet” you must listen!
4For Yahweh said this to me:
“I will be quiet,
and I will look from my dwelling place
like clear heat because of light,#The meaning of this phrase is uncertain; perhaps the “light” is sunlight
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5For before the harvest, when the blossom is complete#Literally “as a completion of a blossom”
and a blossom becomes ripening fruit,
and one cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks,
and one removes, tears away the tendrils.
6They shall all be left#Literally “be left together” for birds#Hebrew “bird” of prey of the mountains
and for the animals#Hebrew “animal” of the earth.
And the birds#Hebrew “bird” of prey will pass the summer on it,
and every animal of the earth will winter on it.
7At that time, a gift#Perhaps tribute is meant will be brought to Yahweh of hosts
from a tall#Literally “stretched out” and smooth#Literally “peeled,” “wiped clean,” or “hairless” people,
and from a people feared near and far,
a mighty, mighty and trampling nation,
whose land the rivers divide,
to the place of the name of Yahweh of hosts,
the mountain of Zion.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
2010 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software