Isaiah 18:2-4

Contemporary English Version

²Egypt sends messengers
up the Nile River
    on ships made of reeds.^[a]
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.^[b]

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 noon
or clouds in the heat
    of harvest season.”

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Footnotes

18.2 reeds: Ancient Egypt was famous for the papyrus reeds that grew in the Nile Delta.
18.2 world: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 2.