A Rebuke to Cush

1Woe to the land of whirring wings

that is beyond the rivers of Cush,a

2which sends envoys by the sea,b

in papyrus boats over the water!

Go, swift messengers,

to a tall, smooth-skinned nation,

to a people feared far and wide,

a nation that metes outc punishmentd and oppresses,

whose land the rivers divide.

3All you inhabitants of the world,

you who live on the earth,

when a banner is raised on the mountains,

you’ll see it.

When a trumpet sounds,

you’ll hear it!

4For this is what the LORD told me:

“I will remain quiet and watch in my dwelling place

like dazzling heat in sunshine,

like a cloud of dew in the heate of harvest.”

5For before the harvest, when the season off budding is over,

and sour grapes ripen into mature grapes,g

he cuts off the shoots with pruning knives,

clearing away the spreading branches

as he lops them off.

6Andh they will all be left

for birds of prey that live on the mountainsi

and for wild animals.j

Birds of prey will pass the summer feeding on them,

and all the wild animalsk will pass the winter feedingl on them.

7At that time tribute will be brought to the LORD of the Heavenly Armies

fromm a tall and smooth-skinned people,

from a people feared far and wide,

a nation that metes outn punishmento and oppresses,

whose land the rivers divide,

to Mount Zion,

the place that bearsp the name of the LORD.q