1 Woe to the land of whirring wings along the rivers of Cush, 

2 which sends envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the water.
Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned,
to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers. 

3 All you people of the world, you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it,
and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it. 

 

4 This is what the Lord says to me:
"I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place,
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest." 

 

5 For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,
and cut down and take away the spreading branches. 

6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey and to the wild animals;
the birds will feed on them all summer, the wild animals all winter. 

 

7 At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord Almighty
from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers-
the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion,
the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.