Isaiah 18

A Message about Ethiopia

¹Listen, Ethiopia^a—land of fluttering sails^b

that lies at the headwaters of the Nile,

²that sends ambassadors

in swift boats down the river.

Go, swift messengers!

Take a message to a tall, smooth-skinned people,

who are feared far and wide

for their conquests and destruction,

and whose land is divided by rivers.

³All you people of the world,

everyone who lives on the earth—

when I raise my battle flag on the mountain, look!

When I blow the ram’s horn, listen!

⁴For the Lord has told me this:

“I will watch quietly from my dwelling place—

as quietly as the heat rises on a summer day,

or as the morning dew forms during the harvest.”

⁵Even before you begin your attack,

while your plans are ripening like grapes,

the Lord will cut off your new growth with pruning shears.

He will snip off and discard your spreading branches.

⁶Your mighty army will be left dead in the fields

for the mountain vultures and wild animals.

The vultures will tear at the corpses all summer.

The wild animals will gnaw at the bones all winter.

⁷At that time the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will receive gifts

from this land divided by rivers,

from this tall, smooth-skinned people,

who are feared far and wide for their conquests and destruction.

They will bring the gifts to Jerusalem,^c

where the Lord of Heaven’s Armies dwells.