Isaiah 17:12-18:7

New International Version

¹² Woe to the many nations that rage^(A)—
    they rage like the raging sea!^(B)
Woe to the peoples who roar^(C)—
    they roar like the roaring of great waters!^(D)
13 Although the peoples roar^(E) like the roar of surging waters,
    when he rebukes^(F) them they flee^(G) far away,
driven before the wind like chaff^(H) on the hills,
    like tumbleweed before a gale.^(I)
14 In the evening, sudden^(J) terror!^(K)
    Before the morning, they are gone!^(L)
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    the lot of those who plunder us.

Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,^(Q)
    to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive^(R) nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers.^(S)

³ All you people of the world,^(T)
    you who live on the earth,
when a banner^(U) is raised on the mountains,
    you will see it,
and when a trumpet^(V) sounds,
    you will hear it.
⁴ This is what the Lord says to me:
    “I will remain quiet^(W) and will look on from my dwelling place,^(X)
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,^(Y)
    like a cloud of dew^(Z) 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^(AA) the shoots with pruning knives,
    and cut down and take away the spreading branches.^(AB)
6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey^(AC)
    and to the wild animals;^(AD)
the birds will feed on them all summer,
    the wild animals all winter.

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,^(AF)
    from a people feared^(AG) far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers^(AH)—