Isaiah, 18

1. Woe to the land of whirring wings beyond the rivers of Cush,

2. which sends ambassadors by sea in papyrus boats over the waters! Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and bronzed, to a nation feared far and wide, a nation conquering and strong, whose land the rivers divide.

3. All you inhabitants of the world, all you who dwell on earth, when a banner on the mountain is raised, look! When a horn on the hill is sounded, listen!

4. For thus Yahweh spoke to me: "From where I dwell, I gaze untroubled, like heat shimmering in the sunshine, like a dewy mist in the heat of harvest."

5. For before the vintage, when the flowers fall, and the blooms become ripened grapes, I will cut shoots and prune and hew away spreading branches.

6. They will be left to the birds of prey and to the beasts of the earth. The birds will feed on them all summer, and the beasts all winter.

7. At that time the tall, bronzed people from a country traversed by rivers - a conquering and strong nation feared far and wide - will bring offerings to Yahweh Sabaoth, to Mount Zion. For this is the place where the name of Yahweh dwells.