18 1 Of the enemies of the Church. 7 And of the vocation of the Gentiles.

Oh, the [a]land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

Sending ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of [b]reeds upon the waters, saying, [c]Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation that is scattered abroad, and spoiled, unto a terrible [d]people from their beginning even hitherto: a nation by little and little even trodden under foot: whose land the [e]floods have spoiled.

All ye the inhabitants of the world, and dwellers in the earth, shall see when [f]he setteth up a sign in the mountains, and when he bloweth the trumpet, ye shall hear.

For so the Lord said unto me, I will [g]rest and behold in my tabernacle, as [h]the heat drying up the rain, and as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

For afore the harvest, when the flour is finished, and the fruit is ripening in the flour, then he shall cut down the branches with hooks, and shall take away, and cut off the boughs:

They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the [i]beasts of the earth: for the fowl shall summer upon it, and every beast of the earth shall winter upon it.

At that time shall a [j]present be brought unto the Lord of hosts (a people that is scattered abroad, and spoiled, and of a terrible people from their beginning hitherto, a nation by little and little even trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled) to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, even the mount Zion.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 18:1 He meaneth that part of Ethiopia, which lieth toward the sea, which was so full of ships that the sails (which he compareth to wings) seemed to shadow the sea.
  2. Isaiah 18:2 Which in those countries were great, insomuch as they made ships of them for swiftness.
  3. Isaiah 18:2 This may be taken, that they sent others to comfort the Jews, and to promise them help against their enemies, and so the Lord did threaten to take away their strength, that the Jews should not trust therein: or that they did solicit the Egyptians, and promised them aid to go against Judah.
  4. Isaiah 18:2 To wit, the Jews, who because of God’s plague, made all other nations afraid of the like, as God threatened, Deut. 28:37.
  5. Isaiah 18:2 Meaning, the Assyrians, as Isa. 8:7.
  6. Isaiah 18:3 When the Lord prepared to fight against the Ethiopians.
  7. Isaiah 18:4 I will stay a while from punishing the wicked.
  8. Isaiah 18:4 Which two seasons are most profitable for the ripening of fruits, whereby he meaneth, that he will seem to favor them, and give them abundance for a time, but he will suddenly cut them off.
  9. Isaiah 18:6 Not only men shall contemn them, but the brute beasts.
  10. Isaiah 18:7 Meaning, that God will pity his Church, and receive that little remnant as an offering unto himself.

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