Isaías 18

Envoys from beyond the rivers of Cush

¹Woe to the land of buzzing wings, \q the land that lies beyond the rivers of Cush,^{ab 2}which dispatches envoys on the sea, in papyrus craft skimming the water. \q Go, you swift messengers, to a nation of tall people with smooth skin, \q a people dreaded near and far, \q a nation of immense strength that treads others down, \q whose land is cut through by rivers.^{c 3}Everyone who lives in the world, all who make their home on the earth: \q when the signal flag goes up on the mountains, you will see it; \q when the ram’s horn blasts, you will hear it.

⁴For the LORD said this to me: \q I will keep still and watch from the place where I dwell, \q silent as heat glimmering in the sunlight, \q as a dew cloud in the warmth of harvest. ⁵For before the harvest, once the budding is done \q and the flower is swelling into a grape that ripens, \q he will slice off the new growth with pruning knives \q and hack away the trailing branches, clearing them off.^{d 6}All of them will be abandoned to the birds of prey on the hills \q and to the wild beasts of the land. \q The birds of prey will pass the summer on them, \q and every wild beast of the land will pass the winter on them. ⁷At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of Armies, from a people who are tall with smooth skin, from a people dreaded near and far, a nation of immense strength that treads others down, whose land is cut through by rivers. They will be brought to Mount Zion, the place that bears the name of the LORD of Armies.^e