Isaiah 18

1 Behold, land shadowed [with] wings, That [is] beyond the rivers of Cush,

Woe to the land of the rustling of wings, which is along the rivers of Cush;

2 That is sending ambassadors by sea, Even with implements of reed on the face of the waters—Go, swift messengers, To a nation drawn out and peeled, To a people fearful from its beginning and onward, A nation meeting out by line, and treading down, Whose land floods have spoiled.

who send ambassadors by the sea, in vessels of papyrus on the waters. Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people feared far and near, a nation strong and trampling down, whose land the rivers divide.

3 All you inhabitants of the world, And you dwellers of earth, At the lifting up of an ensign on hills you look, And at the blowing of a horn you hear.

All you inhabitants of the world and you who live on the earth, when a signal is lifted up on the mountains, look; and when the trumpet is blown, listen.

4 For thus said YHWH to me: “I rest, and I look on My settled place, As a clear heat on an herb. As a thick cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

This is what Yahweh said to me, “I will quietly observe from my home, like the simmering heat in sunshine, like a cloud of mist in the heat of harvest.

5 For before harvest, when the flower is perfect, And the blossom is producing unripe fruit, Then [One] has cut the sprigs with pruning hooks, And the branches He has turned aside, cut down.

Before the harvest, when the blossoming is over, and the flower is ripening into a grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and he will cut down and take away the spreading branches.

6 They are left together to the ravenous bird of the mountains, And to the beast of the earth, And the ravenous bird has summered on them, And every beast of the earth winters on them.

They will be left together for the birds of the mountains and for the animals of the earth. The birds will summer on them, and all the animals of the earth will winter on them.”

7 At that time a present is brought to YHWH of Hosts, A nation drawn out and peeled. Even of a people fearful from the beginning until now, A nation meting out by line, and treading down, Whose land floods have spoiled, To the place of the Name of YHWH of Hosts—Mount Zion!”

At that time tribute will be brought to Yahweh of hosts from a people tall and smooth, from a people feared far and near, a nation strong and trampling down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Yahweh of hosts, to Mount Zion.