Isaiah 18

1 Terrible things will happen to [you people] of Ethiopia! In your land there are many sailboats at the upper part of the Nile River.

那具有翼艇，位於雇士河對岸的地域，

2 Your rulers send ambassadors that sail [quickly] down the river in papyrus boats. You messengers to Ethiopia, go quickly! Go [up the river] to people who are tall and who have smooth skin. People everywhere are afraid of those people, because they conquer and destroy [other nations]; they live in a land that is divided by branches of one large river.

即由海上遣發使者，在海面上乘蘆舟的：「去罷！輕快的使者！到一個高瘦膚褐的民族那裏去，到一個一向可畏的國家那裏去，到一個強大而好勝，河流橫貫其地的民族那裏去！」

3 [You messengers] must tell people everywhere, to people everywhere, “Look when I lift up my battle flag on top of the mountain, and listen when I blow the ram’s horn [to signal that the battle is about to begin].”

舉世的居民和住在大地上的人哪！當山上的旗幟一舉，你們要觀望；號聲一響，你們要靜聽！

4 [Listen] because Yahweh has told me this: “I will watch quietly from where I live. I will watch as quietly as [SIM] the heat waves shimmer as they rises on a hot summer day, as quietly as the dew forms [on the ground] during harvest time.”

因為上主曾對我這樣說：「我要在我的住處寧靜地觀察，彷彿日光中溫暖的熱氣，彷彿收割時炎熱中的露雲。」

5 But [even] before the army of Ethiopia starts to attack, while their plans are [slowly forming] like [SIM] grapes that are ripening, Yahweh will [get rid of them like a farmer who] [MET] cuts off the new shoots of the grapevines with his shears, and prunes the branches that have become very long.

因為在收割前，花苞已放；花蒂成熟結為葡萄時，他就要用鐮刀砍去嫩枝，將參差的枝蔓斬除。

6 All [the soldiers in the army of Ethiopia] will be killed, and their corpses will lie in the fields for vultures to eat their flesh in the (summer/hot season). Then wild animals will [chew on their bones] all during the (winter/cold season).

這些枝蔓都要一律被棄捨給山中的猛禽，和地上的野獸；猛禽要在其上過夏，野獸要在其上過冬。

7 At that time, the people of that land that is divided by the branches of that one big river will take gifts to Yahweh in Jerusalem. Those tall people who have smooth/dark skin, whom people everywhere are afraid of, because they conquer and destroy many countries, will take gifts to Jerusalem, the city where the Commander of the armies of angels lives.

到那時，那高瘦膚褐的民族，那一向可畏的國家，那強大而好勝，河流橫貫其地的民族，要帶禮品到熙雍山上，萬軍上主的名號的居所，獻給萬軍的上主。