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Isaiah 18
New International Reader's Version
Isaiah 18
New International Reader's Version
A Prophecy Against Cush
18 How terrible it will be for the land
whose armies are like large numbers of flying insects!
That land is along the rivers of Cush.
2 Its people send messengers on the Nile River.
They travel over the water in papyrus boats.
Messengers, hurry back home!
Go back to your people,
who are tall and have smooth skin.
Everyone is afraid of them.
They are warriors whose language is different from ours.
Their land is divided up by rivers.
3 Pay attention, all you people of the world!
Listen, all you who live on earth!
Banners will be lifted up on the mountains.
And you will see them.
Trumpets will be blown.
And you will hear them.
4 The Lord says to me,
“I will look down from heaven, where I live.
I will be as quiet as summer heat in the sunshine.
I will be as quiet as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 A farmer cuts off new growth with pruning knives.
He cuts down spreading branches and takes them away.
He does it before the grapes are harvested.
That’s when the blooms are gone and the grapes are ripe.
In the same way, the Lord will cut off the nations
that are gathered against his people.
6 Their dead bodies will be left for the birds of the mountains to eat.
They will be left for the wild animals.
The birds will eat the dead bodies all summer long.
The wild animals will eat them all through the winter.
7 At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord who rules over all.
The people who are tall and have smooth skin will bring them.
Everyone is afraid of those people.
They are warriors whose language is different from ours.
Their land is divided up by rivers.
They will bring their gifts to Mount Zion. That’s where the Lord who rules over all has put his Name.
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
New International Reader's Version (NIRV) 
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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.