Isaiah 18

1 Woe to the land of whirring wings, along the rivers of Cush,

Ho! thou land of the buzzing of wings, —Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

2 which sends couriers by sea, in papyrus vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people widely feared, to a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.

That sendeth by the sea, ambassadors Even in vessels of paper-reed, upon the face of the waters, —Go ye swift messengers Unto a nation drawn out and polished, Unto a people terrible from their beginning and onwards, —A nation most mighty and subduing, Whose land rivers have cut through.

3 All you people of the world and dwellers of the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it; when a ram’s horn sounds, you will hear it.

All ye inhabitants of the world And ye, that dwell in the earth, —When there is lifted up an ensign on the mountains, Ye shall look, And when there is blown a horn, Ye shall hearken.

4 For this is what the LORD has told me: “I will quietly look on from My dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

For, thus, said Yahweh unto me, —I must be quiet I must look on in my fixed place of abode, —Like a bright heat on the light, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife and remove and discard the branches.

For before harvest, when the bud is perfect, And, the blossom, becometh a ripening grape, Then will one cut down the twigs with pruning-hooks, And the tendrils, will he remove [and] cast down:

6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey, and to the beasts of the land. The birds will feed on them in summer, and all the wild animals in winter.

They shall be left together. To the ravenous birds, of the mountains, And to the beast of the earth, —Then shall the ravenous bird, summer upon them, And, every beast of the earth, upon them, shall winter.

7 At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of Hosts— from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people widely feared, from a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers— to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD of Hosts.

In that time, shall there be borne along. As a present unto Yahweh of hosts A people drawn out and polished, Even from a people terrible from their beginning and onwards, —nation most mighty and subduing Whose land rivers, have cut through, Unto the place of the Name of Yahweh of hosts. Mount Zion.