Isaiah 18

An Oracle Concerning Cush

1 Ah, land of *[ch. 8:8;17:12] whirring wings

that is beyond the rivers of *2 Kgs. 19:9Cush,*18:1 Probably Nubia

2 which *ch. 30:4sends ambassadors by the sea,

in vessels of papyrus on the waters!

Go, you swift messengers,

to a nation *ver. 7tall and smooth,

to a people feared near and far,

a nation *[2 Sam. 8:2]mighty and conquering,

whose land the rivers divide.

3 All you inhabitants of the world,

you who dwell on the earth,

when *See ch. 5:26a signal is raised on the mountains, look!

When a trumpet is blown, hear!

4 For thus the Lord said to me:

"I will quietly look *Ps. 11:4from my dwelling

like clear heat in sunshine,

like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."

5 *[Ezek. 31:3,12,13]For before the harvest, when the blossom is over,

and the flower becomes a ripening grape,

he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks,

and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.

6 *[See ver. 5above]They shall all of them be left

to the birds of prey of the mountains

and to the beasts of the earth.

And the birds of prey will summer on them,

and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.

7 *Ps. 68:31At that time tribute will be brought to the Lord of hosts

from a people *ver. 2tall and smooth,

from a people feared near and far,

a nation mighty and conquering,

whose land the rivers divide,

to *[ch. 25:10] Mount Zion, the place of the *2 Sam. 7:13name of the Lord of hosts.