Message to Ethiopia
1 Woe, land of whirring wings Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush,
2 Which sends messengers 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.
3 All you who inhabit the world, and live on earth, As soon as a flag is raised on the mountains, you will see it, And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.
4 For this is what the Lord has told me: “I will quietly look from My dwelling place Like dazzling heat in the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms And the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, And remove and tear away the spreading branches.
6 They will be left together for mountain birds of prey, And for the animals of the earth; And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, And all the animals of the earth will spend harvest time on them.
7 At that time a gift of tribute will be brought to the Lord of armies From a people tall and smooth, From a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation, Whose land the rivers divide— To the place of the name of the Lord of armies, to Mount Zion.