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18 Vae terrae cymbalo alarum, quae est trans flumina AEthiopiae,

qui mittit in mare legatos, et in vasis papyri super aquas. Ite, angeli veloces, ad gentem convulsam et dilaceratam; ad populum terribilem, post quem non est alius; ad gentem exspectantem et conculcatam, cujus diripuerunt flumina terram ejus.

Omnes habitatores orbis, qui moramini in terra, cum elevatum fuerit signum in montibus, videbitis, et clangorem tubae audietis.

Quia haec dicit Dominus ad me: Quiescam et considerabo in loco meo, sicut meridiana lux clara est, et sicut nubes roris in die messis.

Ante messem enim totus effloruit, et immatura perfectio germinabit; et praecidentur ramusculi ejus falcibus, et quae derelicta fuerint abscindentur et excutientur.

Et relinquentur simul avibus montium et bestiis terrae; et aestate perpetua erunt super eum volucres, et omnes bestiae terrae super illum hiemabunt.

In tempore illo deferetur munus Domino exercituum a populo divulso et dilacerato, a populo terribili, post quem non fuit alius; a gente exspectante, exspectante et conculcata, cujus diripuerunt flumina terram ejus; ad locum nominis Domini exercituum, montem Sion.

A Prophecy Against Cush

18 Woe(A) to the land of whirring wings[a]
    along the rivers of Cush,[b](B)
which sends envoys(C) by sea
    in papyrus(D) boats over the water.

Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,(E)
    to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive(F) nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers.(G)

All you people of the world,(H)
    you who live on the earth,
when a banner(I) is raised on the mountains,
    you will see it,
and when a trumpet(J) sounds,
    you will hear it.
This is what the Lord says to me:
    “I will remain quiet(K) and will look on from my dwelling place,(L)
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,(M)
    like a cloud of dew(N) in the heat of harvest.”
For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
    and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off(O) the shoots with pruning knives,
    and cut down and take away the spreading branches.(P)
They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey(Q)
    and to the wild animals;(R)
the birds will feed on them all summer,
    the wild animals all winter.

At that time gifts(S) will be brought to the Lord Almighty

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,(T)
    from a people feared(U) far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers(V)

the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.(W)

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 18:1 Or of locusts
  2. Isaiah 18:1 That is, the upper Nile region