Isaiah 18

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

Maye elizweni okuhatshaza kulo impiko, elingaphetsheya kwemifula yeEthiyophiya,

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.

elithuma izithunywa ngolwandle langemikhumbi yemihlanga ebusweni bamanzi! Hambani, zithunywa ezilejubane, liye esizweni eside lesibutshelezi, esizweni esesabekayo kusukela lapho kusiya phambili, isizwe esingumzilamzila esinyathelela phansi, esilizwe laso imifula iyalehlukanisa.

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.

Lina lonke bahlali bomhlaba, lani elihlezi elizweni, bonani lapho kuphakanyiswa uphawu ezintabeni, lizwe lapho kuvuthelwa uphondo.

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.”

Ngoba yatsho njalo iNkosi kimi: Ngizathula ngikhangele ngisendaweni yami emisiweyo, njengokukhanya okutshisayo phezu kwesibane, njengeyezi lamazolo ekutshiseni kwesivuno.

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.

Ngoba mandulo kwesivuno, ihlumela seliphelele, lesithelo sesivini esingavuthwanga siyavuthwa emva kwamaluba, izaquma amahlumela ngezingqamu zokuthena, isuse izingatsha, iziqume.

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.

Zizatshiywa ndawonye zibe ngezenyoni zezintaba ezidla inyama lezenyamazana zomhlaba. Lenyoni ezidla inyama zizachitha ihlobo phezu kwazo, lenyamazana zonke zomhlaba zichithe ubusika phezu kwazo.

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.

Ngalesosikhathi kuzalethwa isipho eNkosini yamabandla, isizwe eside lesibutshelezi, lesizweni esesabekayo kusukela lapho kusiya phambili, isizwe esingumzilamzila esinyathelela phansi, esilizwe laso imifula iyalehlukanisa, siye endaweni yebizo leNkosi yamabandla, intaba yeZiyoni.