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A Rebuke to Cush

18 Woe to the land of whirring wings
    that is beyond the rivers of Cush,[a]
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.

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!

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.”

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.
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.

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

  1. Isaiah 18:1 I.e. Nubia, south of Egypt (modern northern Sudan)
  2. Isaiah 18:2 Or Nile
  3. Isaiah 18:2 Or nation of strange speech; so 1QIsaa MT; LXX reads nation without hope
  4. Isaiah 18:2 1QIsaa MT LXX lack punishment
  5. Isaiah 18:4 So 1QIsaa MT; MTmss LXX read on the day
  6. Isaiah 18:5 1QIsaa MT lack season of
  7. Isaiah 18:5 Lit. flowers
  8. Isaiah 18:6 So 1QIsaa MT LXX; 4QIsab lacks And
  9. Isaiah 18:6 So 4QIsab; 1QIsaa MT read of mountains; LXX reads mountains of heaven
  10. Isaiah 18:6 Lit. for beasts of the earth; i.e. non-domesticated animals, as opposed to domesticated livestock;
  11. 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
  12. Isaiah 18:6 1QIsaa MT lack feeding
  13. Isaiah 18:7 So 1QIsaa LXX; 4QIsab MT lack from
  14. Isaiah 18:7 Or nation of strange speech; so 1QIsaa MT; LXX reads nation with hope
  15. Isaiah 18:7 1QIsaa MT LXX lack punishment
  16. Isaiah 18:7 Lit. place of
  17. Isaiah 18:7 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsab MT LXX read the Lord of the Heavenly Armies