Oracle of Judgment on Cush

¹ Ah! land of the whirring of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush,

² that sends messengers by the sea and in vessels of papyrus on the surface of the waters! Go, swift messengers, to a ⌞tall⌟¹ and ⌞smooth⌟² nation, to a people feared ⌞near and far⌟,³ a ⌞mighty, mighty⌟⁴ and trampling⁵ nation, whose land rivers divide.

1. Literally “stretched out”
2. Literally “peeled,” “wiped clean,” or “hairless”
3. Literally “from this and beyond”
4. Perhaps this is a gibberish phrase in Hebrew, qaw-qaw
5. Meaning uncertain

³ All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers of the earth, ⌞when a signal is raised on the⌟¹ mountains, you must look, and ⌞when a trumpet is blown⌟,² you must listen!

1. Literally “as a raising of a signal”
2. Literally “as a blowing of a trumpet”

⁴ For Yahweh said this to me: “I will be quiet, and I will look from my dwelling place like ⌞clear heat because of light⌟,¹ like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

1. The meaning of this phrase is uncertain; perhaps the “light” is sunlight

⁵ For before the harvest, ⌞when the blossom is complete⌟¹ and a blossom becomes ripening fruit, and one cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and one removes, tears away the tendrils.

1. Literally “as a completion of a blossom”

⁶ They shall ⌞all be left⌟¹ for birds² of prey of the mountains and for the animals³ of the earth. And the birds⁴ of prey will pass the summer on it, and every animal of the earth will winter on it.

1. Literally “be left together”
2. Hebrew “bird”
3. Hebrew “animal”
4. Hebrew “bird”

⁷ At that time, a gift¹ will be brought to Yahweh of hosts from a ⌞tall⌟² and ⌞smooth⌟³ people, and from a people feared near and far, a mighty, mighty and trampling nation, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Yahweh of hosts, the mountain of Zion.

1. Perhaps tribute is meant
2. Literally “stretched out”
3. Literally “peeled,” “wiped clean,” or “hairless”