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Ethiopia Will Be Punished

18 (A) Downstream from Ethiopia[a]
lies the country of Egypt,
    swarming with insects.[b]
Egypt sends messengers
up the Nile River
    on ships made of reeds.[c]
Send them fast to Ethiopia,
whose people are tall
    and have smooth skin.
Their land is divided by rivers;
they are strong and brutal,
    feared all over the world.[d]

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Footnotes

  1. 18.1 Ethiopia: See the note at 11.11.
  2. 18.1 insects: Or “sailing ships.”
  3. 18.2 reeds: Ancient Egypt was famous for the papyrus reeds that grew in the Nile Delta.
  4. 18.2 world: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 2.

A Prophecy Against Cush

18 Woe(A) to the land of whirring wings[a]
    along the rivers of Cush,[b](B)
which sends envoys(C) by sea
    in papyrus(D) boats over the water.

Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,(E)
    to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive(F) nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 18:1 Or of locusts
  2. Isaiah 18:1 That is, the upper Nile region