< Isaiæ 18 >
1 vae terrae cymbalo alarum quae est trans flumina Aethiopiae
Terrible things will happen to [you people] of Ethiopia! In your land there are many sailboats at the upper part of the Nile River.
2 qui mittit in mari legatos et in vasis papyri super aquas ite angeli veloces ad gentem convulsam et dilaceratam ad populum terribilem post quem non est alius gentem expectantem expectantem et conculcatam cuius diripuerunt flumina terram eius
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.
3 omnes habitatores orbis qui moramini in terra cum elevatum fuerit signum in montibus videbitis et clangorem tubae audietis
[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].”
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
[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.”
5 ante messem enim totus effloruit et inmatura perfectio germinabit et praecidentur ramusculi eius falcibus et quae derelicta fuerint abscidentur excutientur
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.
6 et relinquentur simul avibus montium et bestiis terrae et aestate perpetua erunt super eum volucres et omnes bestiae terrae super illum hiemabunt
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).
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, 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.