18 Woe to the land of whirring wings
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;
² they send ambassadors by sea,
across the water in papyrus-reed boats!
Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and bronzed,
to a people feared far and near,
to a strong and conquering nation
whose land is divided by rivers!

³ All you inhabitants of the world,
you who live on the earth:
when a banner is hoisted on the mountains, look!
When the shofar is blown, listen!
⁴ For Adonai has said this to me:
“I will look on from my place and do nothing,
like heat shimmering in the sun,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
⁵ For before the harvest, when the flowering is over,
and the bud becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the branches with pruning-knives,
lop off the twigs and take them away.
⁶ They will all be left to the vultures in the mountains
and to the wild animals in the fields;
the vultures will feed on them in summer,
and the wild animals of the fields in winter.
⁷ At that time tribute will be brought
to Adonai-Tzva’ot
from a nation tall and bronzed,
from a people feared far and near,
from a strong and conquering nation
whose land is divided by rivers,
to the place where the name of Adonai-Tzva’ot
lives, Mount Tziyon.