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

⁷ “Are not you Israelites
    the same to me as the Cushites^[a]?”^(A)
declares the Lord.
“Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
    the Philistines^(B) from Caphtor^[b](C)
    and the Arameans from Kir?^(D)

⁹ Cush^[a](A) and Egypt were her boundless strength;
    Put^(B) and Libya^(C) were among her allies.