Isaiah 18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
An Oracle concerning Cush
18 Woe, land of buzzing[a] wings
beyond the rivers of Cush,(A)
2 sending ambassadors by the Nile
in vessels of papyrus on the waters!
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation tall and smooth,
to a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty[b] and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide.(B)
3 All you inhabitants of the world,
you who live on the earth,
when a signal is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet is blown, listen!(C)
4 For thus the Lord said to me:
“I will quietly look from my dwelling
like clear heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”(D)
5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is over
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning hooks,
and the spreading branches he will hew away.(E)
6 They shall all be left
to the birds of prey of the mountains
and to the animals of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer on them,
and all the animals of the earth will winter on them.(F)
7 At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord of hosts from[c] a people tall and smooth, from a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide, to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of hosts.(G)
Isaiah 18
International Standard Version
A Rebuke to Cush
18 Woe to the land of whirring wings
that is beyond the rivers of Cush,[a]
2 which sends envoys by the sea,[b]
in papyrus boats over the water!
Go, swift messengers,
to a tall, smooth-skinned nation,
to a people feared far and wide,
a nation that metes out[c] punishment[d] and oppresses,
whose land the rivers divide.
3 All you inhabitants of the world,
you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains,
you’ll see it.
When a trumpet sounds,
you’ll hear it!
4 For this is what the Lord told me:
“I will remain quiet and watch in my dwelling place
like dazzling heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat[e] of harvest.”
5 For before the harvest, when the season of[f] budding is over,
and sour grapes ripen into mature grapes,[g]
he cuts off the shoots with pruning knives,
clearing away the spreading branches
as he lops them off.
6 And[h] they will all be left
for birds of prey that live on the mountains[i]
and for wild animals.[j]
Birds of prey will pass the summer feeding on them,
and all the wild animals[k] will pass the winter feeding[l] on them.
7 At that time tribute will be brought to the Lord of the Heavenly Armies
from[m] a tall and smooth-skinned people,
from a people feared far and wide,
a nation that metes out[n] punishment[o] and oppresses,
whose land the rivers divide,
to Mount Zion,
the place that bears[p] the name of the Lord.[q]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 18:1 I.e. Nubia, south of Egypt (modern northern Sudan)
- Isaiah 18:2 Or Nile
- Isaiah 18:2 Or nation of strange speech; so 1QIsaa MT; LXX reads nation without hope
- Isaiah 18:2 1QIsaa MT LXX lack punishment
- Isaiah 18:4 So 1QIsaa MT; MTmss LXX read on the day
- Isaiah 18:5 1QIsaa MT lack season of
- Isaiah 18:5 Lit. flowers
- Isaiah 18:6 So 1QIsaa MT LXX; 4QIsab lacks And
- Isaiah 18:6 So 4QIsab; 1QIsaa MT read of mountains; LXX reads mountains of heaven
- Isaiah 18:6 Lit. for beasts of the earth; i.e. non-domesticated animals, as opposed to domesticated livestock;
- Isaiah 18:6 Lit. the beasts of the earth; so 1QIsaa; i.e. non-domesticated animals, as opposed to domesticated livestock; MT LXX read every beast of the field
- Isaiah 18:6 1QIsaa MT lack feeding
- Isaiah 18:7 So 1QIsaa LXX; 4QIsab MT lack from
- Isaiah 18:7 Or nation of strange speech; so 1QIsaa MT; LXX reads nation with hope
- Isaiah 18:7 1QIsaa MT LXX lack punishment
- Isaiah 18:7 Lit. place of
- Isaiah 18:7 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsab MT LXX read the Lord of the Heavenly Armies
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