Isaiæ 18

1 Vae terrae cymbalo alarum, quae est trans flumina Aethiopiae,

Tragedy is coming to the land of whirring wings that lies along the rivers of Ethiopia,

2 quae mittit in mare legatos, et in vasis papyri super aquas. Ite angeli veloces ad gentem convulsam, et dilaceratam: ad populum terribilem, post quem non est alius: ad gentem expectantem et conculcatam, cuius diripuerunt flumina terram eius:

They send messengers downriver in papyrus boats. Swift messengers, go and take a message to a tall and smooth-skinned people, to a people feared by everyone, to a very powerful nation of conquerors, whose land is washed away by rivers.

3 omnes habitatores orbis, qui moramini in terra, cum elevatum fuerit signum in montibus, videbitis, et clangorem tubae audietis:

All you people of the world, everyone who lives on earth—you will see when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will hear when a trumpet sounds.

4 quia haec dicit Dominus ad me: Quiescam, et considerabo in loco meo sicut meridiana lux clara est, et sicut nubes roris in die messis.

For this is what the Lord has told me: I will watch quietly from where I live, quiet as heat haze in sunlight, quiet as a mistcloud in the heat of harvest.

5 Ante messem enim totus effloruit, et immatura perfectio germinabit, et praecidentur ramusculi eius falcibus: et quae derelicta fuerint, abscindentur, et excutientur.

For before the harvest, after the flower is gone and becomes an unripe grape, he prunes the vine with a knife to take out the shoots and branches.

6 Et relinquentur simul avibus montium, et bestiis terrae: et aestate perpetua erunt super eum volucres, et omnes bestiae terrae super illum hiemabunt.

They will all be left as carrion for the birds of prey of the mountains, and for the wild animals. The birds will eat them in summer, and all the wild animals in winter.

7 In tempore illo deferetur munus Domino exercituum a populo divulso et dilacerato: a populo terribili, post quem non fuit alius, a gente expectante, expectante et conculcata, cuius diripuerunt flumina terram eius, ad locum nominis Domini exercituum montem Sion.

At that time a gift will be brought to the Lord Almighty from a tall and smooth-skinned people, from a people feared by everyone, from a very powerful nation of conquerors, whose land is washed away by rivers. It will be brought to Mount Zion, the place identified with the Lord Almighty.