Isaiah 18:1-5 ▼

1 How horrible it will be for the land of whirring wings which lies beyond the rivers of Sudan.

2 It sends messengers by sea in boats made of reeds [skimming] over the surface of the water. Go, swift messengers, to a tall and smooth-skinned people, a people [who are] feared far and near, a strong and aggressive nation, whose land is divided by rivers.

3 Look when someone raises a flag on the mountains. Listen when someone blows a ram's horn, all you inhabitants of the world who live on the earth.

4 This is what the LORD says to me: I will keep quiet and watch from my dwelling place. My presence will be like scorching heat in the sunshine, like heavy dew in the heat of the harvest.

5 Before the harvest, when blossoms are gone and grapes are ripening from blossoms, he will cut off the shoots with pruning shears and chop off the spreading branches.