18 It will be very bad for that land beyond the rivers of Cush. Their ships seem to have wings and fly everywhere! 2 They send messages over the sea in boats that they make from reeds. Their boats sail quickly on the water.
Go now! Take a message quickly.
Go to a country where the people are tall
and their skin has no hair.
Everyone is afraid of that nation's people.
They are a powerful and strong nation.
Many rivers cross their land.
3 All you people who live in the world, listen to this! You will see a battle flag on the mountains. You will hear the sound of a trumpet.
4 This is what the Lord said to me: ‘I will watch quietly from my place. I will work quietly, like the heat that comes from the sun. I will be as quiet as the mist that comes at harvest time.’ [ b ]
5 Then, when the grapes on the vines are nearly ready for harvest, the Lord will cut them off! He will use his knife to cut off the branches. [ c ]
6 Like those branches, the dead bodies of the soldiers will lie in the fields. The wild animals and the vultures will come to eat them. The vultures will feed on them all through the summer. The wild animals will eat them all through the winter.
7 At that time, the Lord Almighty will receive gifts from the people of that land. Many rivers cross that land. Its people are tall and their skin has no hair. Everyone is afraid of them. Their nation is strong and powerful. Those people will bring their gifts to Mount Zion. That is the place that the Lord Almighty has chosen for people to worship him there.
18 Look at the land along the rivers of Ethiopia where you can hear the buzzing of insect wings. 2 That land sends people down the Nile River in reed boats. [ a ]
Fast messengers, go to the people
who are tall and smooth,
who are feared far and wide.
Go to that powerful nation that defeats other countries
and whose land is divided by rivers.
Go warn them!
3 Like a flag on a hill,
everyone on earth will see what happens.
Like a trumpet call,
everyone in the country will hear it.
4 The Lord said, “I will be in the place prepared for me. [ b ] I will quietly watch these things happen: On a beautiful summer day, at noon, people will be resting. (It will be during the hot harvest time when there is no rain, but only early morning dew.) 5 Then something terrible will happen. Earlier in the year, the flowers bloomed and the new grapes formed buds and began to grow. But before the crop is harvested, the enemy will come and cut the plants. They will break the vines and throw them away. 6 The vines will be left for the birds from the mountains and the wild animals to eat. The birds will feed on them throughout the summer, and that winter the wild animals will eat the vines.”
7 At that time a special offering will be brought to the Lord All-Powerful from the people who are tall and smooth, from those who are feared far and wide, from that powerful nation that defeats other countries and whose land is divided by rivers. [ c ] This offering will be brought to the Lord ’s place on Mount Zion.
18 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
4 For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
5 For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
7 In that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion.
18 Woe, land of whirring wings
Which lies beyond the rivers of [ a ] ( A ) Cush,
2 Which sends messengers by the sea,
Even in ( B ) papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.
Go, swift messengers, to a nation [ b ] ( C ) tall and smooth,
To a people ( D ) feared [ c ] far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation
Whose land the rivers divide.
3 ( E ) All you who inhabit the world, and live on earth,
As soon as a flag is raised on the mountains, ( F ) you will see it ,
And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it .
4 For this is what the Lord has told me:
“I will quietly look [ d ] from My ( G ) dwelling place
Like dazzling heat in the [ e ] ( H ) sunshine,
Like a cloud of ( I ) dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For ( J ) before the harvest, as soon as the bud [ f ] blossoms
And the flower becomes a ripening grape,
He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,
And remove and tear away the spreading branches.
6 They will be left together for mountain birds ( K ) of prey,
And for the animals of the earth;
And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them,
And all the animals of the earth will spend harvest time on them.
7 At that time a gift of tribute will be brought to the Lord of armies
[ g ] From a ( L ) people [ h ] tall and smooth,
From a people feared [ i ] far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the ( M ) place of the name of the Lord of armies, to Mount Zion.
18 Woe ( A ) to the land of whirring wings [ a ]
along the rivers of Cush, [ b ] ( B )
2 which sends envoys ( C ) by sea
in papyrus ( D ) boats over the water.
Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned, ( E )
to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive ( F ) nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers. ( G )
3 All you people of the world, ( H )
you who live on the earth,
when a banner ( I ) is raised on the mountains,
you will see it,
and when a trumpet ( J ) sounds,
you will hear it.
4 This is what the Lord says to me:
“I will remain quiet ( K ) and will look on from my dwelling place, ( L )
like shimmering heat in the sunshine, ( M )
like a cloud of dew ( N ) in the heat of harvest.”
5 For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off ( O ) the shoots with pruning knives,
and cut down and take away the spreading branches. ( P )
6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey ( Q )
and to the wild animals; ( R )
the birds will feed on them all summer,
the wild animals all winter.
7 At that time gifts ( S ) will be brought to the Lord Almighty
from a people tall and smooth-skinned, ( T )
from a people feared ( U ) far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers ( V ) —
the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty. ( W )
