Isaiah Chapter 18

Isaiah 18 - English translation

Translation: THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition. Verse numbers match the Hebrew text below.

1. 1Ah, land in the deep shadow of wings, Beyond the rivers of Cush!
2. 2Go, swift messengers, To a nation far and remote, To a people thrust forth and away — A nation of gibber and chatter — Whose land is cut off by streams; Which sends out envoys by sea, In papyrus vessels upon the water!
3. 3[Say this:] “All you who live in the world And inhabit the earth, When a flag is raised in the hills, take note! When a ram’s horn is blown, give heed!”
4. 4For thus G OD said to me: “I rest calm and confident “to rely” (Job 6.19). The related noun mabbaṭ occurs with similar meaning in Isa. 20.5, 6. in My habitation— Like a scorching heat upon sprouts, Like a rain-cloud in the heat of reaping time.”
5. 5For before the harvest, yet after the budding, When the blossom has hardened into berries, [God] will trim away the twigs with pruning hooks, And lop off the trailing branches.
6. 6They shall all be left To the kites of the hills And to the beasts of the earth; The kites shall summer on them And all the beasts of the earth shall winter on them.
7. 7In that time, Tribute shall be brought to G OD of Hosts [From] a people far and remote, From a people thrust forth and away— A nation of gibber and chatter, Whose land is cut off by streams— At the place where the name of G OD of Hosts abides, At Mount Zion.

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