Isaiah 18
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 18
Ethiopia
1 Ah! Land of buzzing insects,[a]
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,(A)
2 Sending ambassadors by sea,
in papyrus boats on the waters!
Go, swift messengers,
to a nation tall and bronzed,
To a people dreaded near and far,
a nation strong and conquering,
whose land is washed by rivers.(B)
3 [b]All you who inhabit the world,
who dwell on earth,
When the signal is raised on the mountain, look!
When the trumpet blows, listen!
4 For thus says the Lord to me:
I will be quiet, looking on from where I dwell,(C)
Like the shimmering heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew at harvest time.
5 Before the vintage, when the flowering has ended,
and the blooms are succeeded by ripening grapes,
Then comes the cutting of branches with pruning hooks,
and the discarding of the lopped-off shoots.
6 They shall all be left to the mountain vultures
and to the beasts of the earth;
The vultures shall summer on them,
all the beasts of the earth shall winter on them.
7 Then will gifts be brought to the Lord of hosts—to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, Mount Zion—from a people tall and bronzed, from a people dreaded near and far, a nation strong and conquering, whose land is washed by rivers.(D)
Footnotes
- 18:1–2 Land of buzzing insects: the region of the Upper Nile where these multiplied with great rapidity. Ethiopia: in Hebrew, Kush. The center of this ancient kingdom corresponds geographically to the modern Sudan, Roman Nubia. Papyrus boats: light and serviceable vessels made of bundles of papyrus stalks and sealed with pitch. Egypt, ruled by a dynasty from Ethiopia, had invited Judah to join a coalition against Assyria, but Isaiah told the ambassadors to return to their own people.
- 18:3–6 A more general address but probably relating to the same topic. The Lord will not act at once, but later there will be a “harvest” of terrible destruction, probably directed against Assyria (cf. 14:24–27).
以赛亚书 18
Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified)
古实之民英勇可畏
18 唉！古实河外翅膀刷刷响声之地， 2 差遣使者在水面上，坐蒲草船过海。先知说：“你们快行的使者，要到高大光滑的民那里去，自从开国以来那民极其可畏，是分地界践踏人的，他们的地有江河分开。” 3 世上一切的居民和地上所住的人哪，山上竖立大旗的时候，你们要看！吹角的时候，你们要听！
奉礼于耶和华
4 耶和华对我这样说：“我要安静，在我的居所观看，如同日光中的清热，又如露水的云雾在收割的热天。” 5 收割之先，花开已谢，花也成了将熟的葡萄，他必用镰刀削去嫩枝，又砍掉蔓延的枝条。 6 都要撇给山间的鸷鸟和地上的野兽，夏天鸷鸟要宿在其上，冬天野兽都卧在其中。 7 到那时，这高大光滑的民，就是从开国以来极其可畏，分地界践踏人的，他们的地有江河分开，他们必将礼物奉给万军之耶和华，就是奉到锡安山，耶和华安置他名的地方。
Isaiah 18
Good News Translation
God Will Punish Ethiopia
18 (A)Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia[a] there is a land where the sound of wings is heard. 2 From that land ambassadors come down the Nile in boats made of reeds. Go back home, swift messengers! Take a message back to your land divided by rivers, to your strong and powerful nation, to your tall and smooth-skinned people, who are feared all over the world.
3 Listen, everyone who lives on earth! Look for a signal flag to be raised on the mountaintops! Listen for the blowing of the bugle! 4 The Lord said to me, “I will look down from heaven as quietly as the dew forms in the warm nights of harvest time, as serenely as the sun shines in the heat of the day. 5 Before the grapes are gathered, when the blossoms have all fallen and the grapes are ripening, the enemy will destroy the Ethiopians[b] as easily as a knife cuts branches from a vine. 6 The corpses of their soldiers will be left exposed to the birds and the wild animals. In summer the birds will feed on them, and in winter, the animals.”
7 A time is coming when the Lord Almighty will receive offerings from this land divided by rivers, this strong and powerful nation, this tall and smooth-skinned people, who are feared all over the world. They will come to Mount Zion, where the Lord Almighty is worshiped.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 18:1 Hebrew Cush(ites): Cush is the ancient name of the extensive territory south of the First Cataract of the Nile River. This region was called Ethiopia in Graeco-Roman times, and included within its borders most of modern Sudan and some of present-day Ethiopia (Abyssinia).
- Isaiah 18:5 See 18.1:
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Copyright © 2011 by Global Bible Initiative
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
