< Isaiah 18 >
1 Woe to the land of the rustling of wings, which is along the rivers of Cush;
Maye elizweni okuhatshaza kulo impiko, elingaphetsheya kwemifula yeEthiyophiya,
2 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.
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 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.
Lina lonke bahlali bomhlaba, lani elihlezi elizweni, bonani lapho kuphakanyiswa uphawu ezintabeni, lizwe lapho kuvuthelwa uphondo.
4 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.
Ngoba yatsho njalo iNkosi kimi: Ngizathula ngikhangele ngisendaweni yami emisiweyo, njengokukhanya okutshisayo phezu kwesibane, njengeyezi lamazolo ekutshiseni kwesivuno.
5 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.
Ngoba mandulo kwesivuno, ihlumela seliphelele, lesithelo sesivini esingavuthwanga siyavuthwa emva kwamaluba, izaquma amahlumela ngezingqamu zokuthena, isuse izingatsha, iziqume.
6 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.”
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 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.
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.