Isaiah 18

Isaiah prophesies woe to the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia that sends ambassadors by sea. The LORD will watch quietly as the Assyrian threat ripens, then cut it down. Afterward gifts will be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and smooth-skinned.

v	King James Version	Modern English
1	Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:	Woe to the land of whirring wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush,
2	That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!	which sends ambassadors by sea, in vessels of papyrus on the waters! Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned — to a people feared near and far — a nation mighty and trampling, whose land the rivers divide.
3	All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.	All You inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth — when an ensign is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet is blown, hear!
4	For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.	For the LORD said to me, "I will quietly look from My dwelling like shimmering heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."
5	For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.	For before the harvest, when the blossom is over and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with pruning hooks, and the spreading branches He will cut away.
6	They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.	They shall all be left to the birds of the mountains and the beasts of the earth. The birds of prey shall summer on them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter on them.
7	In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.	At that time a gift shall be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and smooth-skinned — from a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide — to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, to Mount Zion.