18 1 Of the enemies of the Church. 7 And of the vocation of the Gentiles.

Oh, the [a]land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

Sending ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of [b]reeds upon the waters, saying, [c]Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation that is scattered abroad, and spoiled, unto a terrible [d]people from their beginning even hitherto: a nation by little and little even trodden under foot: whose land the [e]floods have spoiled.

All ye the inhabitants of the world, and dwellers in the earth, shall see when [f]he setteth up a sign in the mountains, and when he bloweth the trumpet, ye shall hear.

For so the Lord said unto me, I will [g]rest and behold in my tabernacle, as [h]the heat drying up the rain, and as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

For afore the harvest, when the flour is finished, and the fruit is ripening in the flour, then he shall cut down the branches with hooks, and shall take away, and cut off the boughs:

They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the [i]beasts of the earth: for the fowl shall summer upon it, and every beast of the earth shall winter upon it.

At that time shall a [j]present be brought unto the Lord of hosts (a people that is scattered abroad, and spoiled, and of a terrible people from their beginning hitherto, a nation by little and little even trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled) to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, even the mount Zion.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 18:1 He meaneth that part of Ethiopia, which lieth toward the sea, which was so full of ships that the sails (which he compareth to wings) seemed to shadow the sea.
  2. Isaiah 18:2 Which in those countries were great, insomuch as they made ships of them for swiftness.
  3. Isaiah 18:2 This may be taken, that they sent others to comfort the Jews, and to promise them help against their enemies, and so the Lord did threaten to take away their strength, that the Jews should not trust therein: or that they did solicit the Egyptians, and promised them aid to go against Judah.
  4. Isaiah 18:2 To wit, the Jews, who because of God’s plague, made all other nations afraid of the like, as God threatened, Deut. 28:37.
  5. Isaiah 18:2 Meaning, the Assyrians, as Isa. 8:7.
  6. Isaiah 18:3 When the Lord prepared to fight against the Ethiopians.
  7. Isaiah 18:4 I will stay a while from punishing the wicked.
  8. Isaiah 18:4 Which two seasons are most profitable for the ripening of fruits, whereby he meaneth, that he will seem to favor them, and give them abundance for a time, but he will suddenly cut them off.
  9. Isaiah 18:6 Not only men shall contemn them, but the brute beasts.
  10. Isaiah 18:7 Meaning, that God will pity his Church, and receive that little remnant as an offering unto himself.

18 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.