18 Ah, the land ^[a]of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of ^[b]Ethiopia; ² that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, ^[c]even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation ^[d]tall and smooth, to a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation ^[e]that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land the rivers ^[f]divide! ³ All ye inhabitants of the world, and ye dwellers on the earth, when an ensign is lifted up on the mountains, see ye; and when the trumpet is blown, hear ye.

⁴ For thus hath Jehovah said unto me, I will be still, and I will behold in my dwelling-place, ^[g]like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. ⁵ For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becometh a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and the spreading branches will he take away and cut down. ⁶ They shall be left together unto the ravenous birds of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth; and the ravenous birds shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. ⁷ In that time shall a present be brought unto Jehovah of hosts from a people ^[h]tall and smooth, even from a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts, the mount Zion.