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Isaiah 18
The Lord Will Judge a Distant Land in the South 1
The land of buzzing wings is as good as dead,
the one beyond the rivers of Cush,
2
that sends messengers by sea,
who glide over the water’s surface in boats made of papyrus. Go, you swift messengers, to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people, to a people that are feared far and wide, to a nation strong and victorious, whose land rivers divide.
3
All you who live in the world,
who reside on the earth, you will see a signal flag raised on the mountains; you will hear a trumpet being blown.
4
For this is what the Lord has told me:
“I will wait and watch from my place, like scorching heat produced by the sunlight, like a cloud of mist in the heat of harvest.”
5
For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted,
and the ripening fruit appears, he will cut off the unproductive shoots with pruning knives; he will prune the tendrils.
6
They will all be left for the birds of the hills
and the wild animals; the birds will eat them during the summer, and all the wild animals will eat them during the winter.
7
At that time
tribute will be brought to the Lord who commands armies, by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned, a people that are feared far and wide, a nation strong and victorious, whose land rivers divide. The tribute will be brought to the place where the Lord who commands armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion.