< 以賽亞書 18 >
Terrible things will happen to [you people] of Ethiopia! In your land there are many sailboats at the upper part of the Nile River.
2 差遣使者在水面上, 坐蒲草船過海。 先知說:你們快行的使者, 要到高大光滑的民那裏去。 自從開國以來,那民極其可畏, 是分地界踐踏人的; 他們的地有江河分開。
Your rulers send ambassadors that sail [quickly] down the river in papyrus boats. You messengers to Ethiopia, go quickly! Go [up the river] to people who are tall and who have smooth skin. People everywhere are afraid of those people, because they conquer and destroy [other nations]; they live in a land that is divided by branches of one large river.
3 世上一切的居民和地上所住的人哪, 山上豎立大旗的時候你們要看; 吹角的時候你們要聽。
[You messengers] must tell people everywhere, to people everywhere, “Look when I lift up my battle flag on top of the mountain, and listen when I blow the ram’s horn [to signal that the battle is about to begin].”
4 耶和華對我這樣說: 我要安靜,在我的居所觀看, 如同日光中的清熱, 又如露水的雲霧在收割的熱天。
[Listen] because Yahweh has told me this: “I will watch quietly from where I live. I will watch as quietly as [SIM] the heat waves shimmer as they rises on a hot summer day, as quietly as the dew forms [on the ground] during harvest time.”
5 收割之先,花開已謝, 花也成了將熟的葡萄; 他必用鐮刀削去嫩枝, 又砍掉蔓延的枝條,
But [even] before the army of Ethiopia starts to attack, while their plans are [slowly forming] like [SIM] grapes that are ripening, Yahweh will [get rid of them like a farmer who] [MET] cuts off the new shoots of the grapevines with his shears, and prunes the branches that have become very long.
6 都要撇給山間的鷙鳥和地上的野獸。 夏天,鷙鳥要宿在其上; 冬天,野獸都臥在其中。
All [the soldiers in the army of Ethiopia] will be killed, and their corpses will lie in the fields for vultures to eat their flesh in the (summer/hot season). Then wild animals will [chew on their bones] all during the (winter/cold season).
7 到那時,這高大光滑的民, 就是從開國以來極其可畏、 分地界踐踏人的, 他們的地有江河分開; 他們必將禮物奉給萬軍之耶和華, 就是奉到錫安山- 耶和華安置他名的地方。
At that time, the people of that land that is divided by the branches of that one big river will take gifts to Yahweh in Jerusalem. Those tall people who have smooth/dark skin, whom people everywhere are afraid of, because they conquer and destroy many countries, will take gifts to Jerusalem, the city where the Commander of the armies of angels lives.