Isaiah 18

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

Ho! thou land of rustling wings, Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia!

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 sendest thy messengers upon the sea, In reed-boats upon the face of the waters: Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation tall and fair, To a people terrible from the first and onward, To a mighty, victorious people, Whose land is divided by rivers!

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, ye that dwell on the earth, When the standard is lifted up on the mountains, behold! When the trumpet is sounded, hear!

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 thus hath Jehovah said to me: “I will sit still, and look on from my dwelling-place, Like a serene heat when the sun shineth, Like a dewy cloud 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.

But before the vintage, when the bud is gone, And the blossom is ripening into a swelling grape, He shall cut off the shoots with pruning-hooks, And the branches he shall take away 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 to the ravenous birds of the mountains, And to the wild beasts of the earth. The ravenous birds shall summer upon it, And every wild beast of the earth shall winter upon it.

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 gifts be brought to Jehovah of hosts From a nation tall and fair, From a people terrible from the first and onward, A mighty, victorious people, Whose land is divided by rivers, To the dwelling-place of Jehovah of hosts, to mount Zion.