Isaiah 18

1 Woe to the land of the rustling of wings, which is along the rivers of Cush;

Ah, land of the buzzing of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;

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.

That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters! Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation tall and of glossy skin, to a people terrible from their beginning onward; a nation that is sturdy and treadeth down, whose land the rivers divide!

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.

All ye inhabitants of the world, and ye dwellers on the earth, when an ensign is lifted up on the mountains, see ye; and when the horn is blown, hear ye.

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.

For thus hath the LORD said unto me: I will hold Me still, and I will look on in My dwelling-place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

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.

For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the bud becometh a ripening grape, He will cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and the shoots will He take away and lop off.

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.”

They shall be left together unto the ravenous birds of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth; and the ravenous birds shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

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.

In that time shall a present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people tall and of glossy skin, and from a people terrible from their beginning onward; a nation that is sturdy and treadeth down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.