the Fourth Week of Advent
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New American Standard Bible
Isaiah 18
Message to Ethiopia
1 Woe, land of whirring wings
Which lies beyond the rivers of (F1)(C1)Cush,
2 Which sends messengers 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 who inhabit the world, and live on earth,
As soon as a flag is raised on the mountains, (C2)you will see it,
And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.
"I will quietly look (F1)from My (C1)dwelling place
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,
He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,
And remove and tear away the spreading branches.
6 They will be left together for mountain birds (C1)of prey,
And for the animals of the earth;
And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them,
And all the animals of the earth will spend harvest time on them.
7 At that time a gift of tribute will be brought to the LORD of armies
(F1)From a (C1)people (F2)tall and smooth,
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 the LORD of armies, to Mount Zion.
New American Standard Bible
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