A Message to Ethiopia

1Alas, O land of whirring wings

Which lies beyond the rivers of [†]Ethiopia,

2Which sends envoys by the sea,

Even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.

Go, swift messengers, to a nation [†]tall and smooth,

To a people feared [†]far and wide,

A powerful and oppressive nation

Whose land the rivers divide.

3All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth,

As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, you will see it,

And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.

4For thus Yahweh has told me,

“I will look [†]from My dwelling place quietly

Like dazzling heat in the [†]sunshine,

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

5For before the harvest, as soon as the bud [†]blossoms

And the flower becomes a ripening grape,

Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives

And remove and cut away the spreading branches.

6They will be left together for 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 Yahweh of hosts

[†]From a people [†]tall and smooth,

Even from a people feared [†]far and wide,

A powerful and oppressive nation,

Whose land the rivers divide—

To the place of the name of Yahweh of hosts, even Mount Zion.