Isaiah 18
Expanded Bible
God’s Message to Cush
18 ·How terrible it will be for [Woe to; or Listen,] the land beyond the rivers of ·Cush [or Ethiopia; C the upper Nile region].
·It is filled with the sound of wings [L …the land of buzzing wings; or …the land of flapping sails].
2 That land sends ·messengers [envoys; ambassadors] across the sea;
they go on the water in boats made of ·reeds [papyrus; C light and speedy].
Go, ·quick [swiftly] messengers,
to a people who are tall and smooth-skinned,
who are feared ·everywhere [far and wide].
They are a powerful nation ·that defeats other nations [or who speak a strange language].
Their land is divided by rivers.
3 All you ·people [inhabitants] of the world, look!
Everyone who lives in the world, look!
You will see a ·banner [standard; signal flag] raised on a mountain.
You will hear a trumpet sound.
4 The Lord said to me,
“I will quietly watch from ·where I live [my dwelling place],
like ·heat in the sunshine [L glowing heat upon the light],
like ·the dew [L a cloud of dew] in the heat of harvest time.”
5 The time will come, after the flowers have bloomed and before the harvest,
when ·new grapes will be budding and growing [the flower becomes a ripening grape].
·The enemy [or The Lord; L He] will cut the plants with pruning knives;
he will cut down the ·vines [branches; tendrils] and take them away.
6 They will be left for the ·birds [or birds of prey] of the mountains
and for the wild animals.
Birds will feed on them all summer,
and wild animals will eat them that winter.”
7 ·At that time [L In that day] ·a gift [tribute] will be brought to the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts]
from the people who are tall and smooth-skinned,
who are feared ·everywhere [far and wide].
They are a powerful nation ·that defeats other nations [or who speak a strange language].
Their land is divided by rivers.
These gifts will be brought to the place ·of [L of the name of] the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts],
to Mount Zion.
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