Isaiah 18

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

Woe to the land, the winged cymbal, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

2 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.

That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, and in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters. Go, ye swift angels, to a nation rent and torn in pieces: to a terrible people, after which there is no other: to a nation expecting and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled.

3 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.

All ye inhabitants of the world, who dwell on the earth, when the sign shall be lifted up on the mountains, you shall see, and you shall hear the sound of the trumpet.

4 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.

For thus saith the Lord to me: I will take my rest, and consider in my place, as the noon light is clear, and as a cloud of dew in the day of harvest.

5 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:

For before the harvest it was all flourishing, and it shall bud without perfect ripeness, and the sprigs thereof shall be cut off with pruning hooks: and what is left shall be cut away and shaken out.

6 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.

And they shall be left together to the birds of the mountains, and the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall be upon them all the summer, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

7 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.

At that time shall a present be brought to the Lord of hosts, from a people rent and torn in pieces: from a terrible people, after which there hath been no other: from a nation expecting, expecting and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to mount Sion.