1Woe (judgment is coming) to the land of [a]whirring wings

Which is beyond the rivers of [b]Cush (Ethiopia),

2Which sends ambassadors by the sea,

Even in vessels of papyrus on the surface of the waters.

Go, swift messengers, to a nation [of people] tall and smooth (clean shaven),

To a people feared far and wide,

A powerful and oppressive nation

Whose land the rivers divide.

3All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth,

When a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it!

When a trumpet is blown, you will hear it! 4For this is what the LORD has said to me,

“I will be quiet and I will look on from My dwelling place,

Like shimmering heat above the sunshine,

Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

5For before the harvest, when the blossom is over

And the flower becomes a ripening grape,

He will cut off the sprigs [without buds] with pruning knives,

And [He will] remove and cut away the spreading branches.

6They (warriors) will be left together for the mountain birds 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.

7At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the LORD of hosts

From a people tall and smooth (clean shaven),

From a people feared far and wide,

A powerful and oppressive nation,

Whose land the rivers divide--

To the place [of worship] of the [c]name of the LORD of hosts, to Mount Zion [in Jerusalem].