the First Week of Advent
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Legacy Standard Bible
Isaiah 18
A Message to Ethiopia
1 Alas, O land of whirring wings
Which lies beyond the rivers of (F1)(C1)Ethiopia,
2 Which sends envoys by the sea,
Even in (C1)papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.
Go, swift messengers, to a nation (F1)(C2)tall and smooth,
To a people (C3)feared (F2)far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation
Whose land the rivers divide.
3 (C1)All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth,
As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, (C2)you will see it,
And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.
"I will look (F1)from My (C1)dwelling place quietly
Like dazzling heat in the (F2)(C2)sunshine,
Like a cloud of (C3)dew in the heat of harvest."
5 For (C1)before the harvest, as soon as the bud (F1)blossoms
And the flower becomes a ripening grape,
Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives
And remove and cut away the spreading branches.
6 They will be left together for mountain birds (C1)of prey,
And for the beasts of the earth;
And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on 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 Yahweh of hosts
(F1)From a (C1)people (F2)tall and smooth,
Even from a people feared (F3)far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the (C2)place of the name of Yahweh of hosts, even Mount Zion.
