Message to Ethiopia
1 Woe (judgment is coming) to the land of whirring wings Which is beyond the rivers of Cush (Ethiopia),
2 Which 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.
3 All 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!
4 For 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.”
5 For 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.
6 They (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.
7 At 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 name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion [in Jerusalem]. [Deut 12:5; 2 Chr 32:23; Is 16:1; 45:14; Zeph 3:10]