Isaiah 18

1 Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;

Woe to the land with spreading wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush,

2 that sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus on the waters, saying, “Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide!”

That sendeth on the sea ambassadors, and in vessels of bulrushes messengers over the face of the waters. Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation pulled and torn, to a people terrible from their beginning and onward; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

3 All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on the earth, when a banner is lifted up on the mountains, look! When the trumpet is blown, listen!

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, when the ensign is lifted up on the mountains, see ye; and when the cornet is blown, hear ye.

4 For the LORD said to me, “I will be still, and I will see in my dwelling place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

For so hath said the Lord unto me, I will take my rest, and I will look down on my dwelling-place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and he will cut down and take away the spreading branches.

For before the harvest, when the blossom is past, and the flower becometh a ripening grape, will he both cut off the tendrils with pruning-knives, and the sprigs will he remove and cut down.

6 They will be left together for the ravenous birds of the mountains, and for the animals of the earth. The ravenous birds will eat them in the summer, and all the animals of the earth will eat them in the winter.

They shall be left together unto the birds of prey of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the birds of prey shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

7 In that time, a present will be brought to the LORD of Armies from a people tall and smooth, even from a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of the LORD of Armies, Mount Zion.

At that time shall be brought as a present unto the Lord of hosts a people pulled and torn, and a people terrible from their beginning and onward; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion.