Font Size
Isaiah 18
Modern English Version
Isaiah 18
Modern English Version
An Oracle Concerning Ethiopia
18 Woe to the land vibrating with wings,
which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
2 which sends ambassadors by the sea,
even in vessels of reeds on the waters, saying,
“Go, swift messengers,
to a nation tall and smooth,
to a people feared far and wide,
a nation strong and oppressive,
whose land the rivers have divided.”
3 All you inhabitants of the world,
and dwellers on the earth:
When he lifts up a banner on the mountains,
you will see it;
and when he blows a trumpet,
you will hear it.
4 For so the Lord said to me:
I will look from My dwelling place quietly,
like dazzling heat in the sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
5 For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect
and the sour grape is ripening in the flower,
then He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks
and take away and cut down the branches.
6 They shall be left together for the fowl of the mountains
and for the beasts of the earth;
and the fowl shall spend the summer feeding on them,
and all the beasts of the earth shall spend the winter on them.
7 In that time a present shall be brought to the Lord of Hosts
from a people tall and smooth,
and from a people feared far and wide,
a nation strong and oppressive,
whose land the rivers have divided,
to the place of the name of the Lord of Hosts, even Mount Zion.
Isaiah 18
New International Version
Isaiah 18
New International Version
A Prophecy Against Cush
18 Woe(A) to the land of whirring wings[a]
along the rivers of Cush,[b](B)
2 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)
3 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.
4 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.”
5 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)
6 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.
7 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
- Isaiah 18:1 Or of locusts
- Isaiah 18:1 That is, the upper Nile region
Modern English Version (MEV)
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.