1 Message to Ethiopia Woe (judgment is coming) to the land ofPerhaps a reference to the warships of Cush.whirring wingsWhich is beyond the rivers ofAncient Ethiopia was south of Egypt and included portions of modern Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia.Cush (Ethiopia),
2 Which sends ambassadors by the sea,Even in vessels of papyrus on the surface of the waters.Go, swift messengers, to a nation [of people] tall and smooth (clean shaven),To a people feared far and wide,A powerful and oppressive nationWhose land the rivers divide.
3 All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth,When a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it!When a trumpet is blown, you will hear it!
4 For this is what the Lhas said to me,“I will be quiet and I will look on from My dwelling place,Like shimmering heat above the sunshine,Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is overAnd the flower becomes a ripening grape,He will cut off the sprigs [without buds] with pruning knives,And [He will] remove and cut away the spreading branches.
6 They (warriors) will be left together for the mountain birds of prey,And for the beasts of the earth;And the birds of prey will [spend the] summerfeedingon them,And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.
7 At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the Lof hostsFrom a people tall and smooth (clean shaven),From a people feared far and wide,A powerful and oppressive nation,Whose land the rivers divide—To the place [of worship] of theSee note Deut 12:5.name of the Lof hosts, to Mount Zion [in Jerusalem].