The Lord Will Judge a Distant Land in the South
18:1 The land of buzzing wings
is as good as dead,1
the one beyond the rivers of Cush,
18:2 that sends messengers by sea,
who travel over the water’s surface in boats made of papyrus.
Go you swift messengers,
to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people,2
to a people that are feared far and wide,3
to a nation strong and victorious,4
whose land rivers divide.5
18:3 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.
18:4 For this is what the LORD has told me:
“I will wait6
and watch from my place,
like scorching heat produced by the sunlight,7
like a cloud of mist8
in the heat9
of harvest.”10
18:5 For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted,
and the ripening fruit appears,11
he will cut off the unproductive shoots12
with pruning knives,
he will prune the tendrils.13
18:6 They will all be left14
for the birds of the hills,
and the wild animals;15
the birds will eat them during the summer,
and all the wild animals will eat them during the winter.
18:7 At that time
tribute will be brought to the LORD who leads 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.16
It will be brought to the place where the LORD who leads armies has chosen to
reside on Mount Zion.17