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.

唉！古实河外翅膀刷刷响声之地，

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.

差遣使者在水面上， 坐蒲草船过海。 先知说：你们快行的使者， 要到高大光滑的民那里去。 自从开国以来，那民极其可畏， 是分地界践踏人的； 他们的地有江河分开。

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].”

世上一切的居民和地上所住的人哪， 山上竖立大旗的时候你们要看； 吹角的时候你们要听。

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.”

耶和华对我这样说： 我要安静，在我的居所观看， 如同日光中的清热， 又如露水的云雾在收割的热天。

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.

收割之先，花开已谢， 花也成了将熟的葡萄； 他必用镰刀削去嫩枝， 又砍掉蔓延的枝条，

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).

都要撇给山间的鸷鸟和地上的野兽。 夏天，鸷鸟要宿在其上； 冬天，野兽都卧在其中。

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.

到那时，这高大光滑的民， 就是从开国以来极其可畏、 分地界践踏人的， 他们的地有江河分开； 他们必将礼物奉给万军之耶和华， 就是奉到锡安山— 耶和华安置他名的地方。