Isaiah 18

¹Ah , land of whirring wings that is beyond the rivers of Cush ,

²which sends ambassadors by the sea , in vessels of papyrus on the waters ! Go , you swift messengers , to a nation tall and smooth , to a people feared near and far , a nation mighty and conquering , whose land the rivers divide .

³All you inhabitants of the world , you who dwell on the earth , when a signal is raised on the mountains , look ! When a trumpet is blown , hear !

⁴For thus the Lord said to me: I will quietly look from my dwelling like clear heat in sunshine , like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest .

⁵For before the harvest , when the blossom is over , and the flower becomes a ripening grape , he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks , and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away .

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

⁷At that time tribute will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people tall and smooth , from a people feared near and far , a nation mighty and conquering , whose land the rivers divide , to Mount Zion , the place of the name of the Lord of hosts .