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Egypt sends messengers
up the Nile River
    on ships made of reeds.[a]
Send them fast to Ethiopia,
whose people are tall
    and have smooth skin.
Their land is divided by rivers;
they are strong and brutal,
    feared all over the world.[b]

Everyone on this earth,
    listen with care!
A signal will be given
on the mountains,
    and you will hear a trumpet.
The Lord said to me,
“I will calmly look down
    from my home above—
as calmly as the sun at noon
or clouds in the heat
    of harvest season.”

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Footnotes

  1. 18.2 reeds: Ancient Egypt was famous for the papyrus reeds that grew in the Nile Delta.
  2. 18.2 world: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 2.

which sends envoys(A) by sea
    in papyrus(B) boats over the water.

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

All you people of the world,(F)
    you who live on the earth,
when a banner(G) is raised on the mountains,
    you will see it,
and when a trumpet(H) sounds,
    you will hear it.
This is what the Lord says to me:
    “I will remain quiet(I) and will look on from my dwelling place,(J)
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,(K)
    like a cloud of dew(L) in the heat of harvest.”

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