Isaiah 18
Ethiopia will be punished
1Downstream from Ethiopia
lies the country of Egypt,
swarming with insects.
2Egypt sends messengers
up the River Nile
on ships made of reeds.
Send them fast to Ethiopia,
whose people are tall
and have smooth skin.
Their land is divided by rivers;
they are strong and brutal,
feared all over the world.
3Everyone on this earth,
listen with care!
A signal will be given
on the mountains,
and you will hear a trumpet.
4The LORD said to me,
“I will calmly look down
from my home above—
as calmly as the sun at midday
or clouds in the heat
of harvest season.”
5Before the blossoms
can turn into grapes,
God will cut off the shoots
and hack off the branches.
6Ethiopians will be food
for mountain eagles
during the summer
and for wild animals
during the winter.
7Those Ethiopians are tall and their skin is smooth. They are feared all over the world, because they are strong and brutal. But at that time they will come from their land divided by rivers, and they will bring gifts to the LORD All-Powerful, who is worshipped on Mount Zion.
Contemporary English Version (Anglicised) 2012 © British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Audio text: © 1991 American Bible Society
Audio: ℗ 1995 Hosanna
℗ Voices 1997 ABS, Music 1997 Hosanna