Message to Ethiopia

1 Alas, oh land of whirring wings
          Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush,

2 Which 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.

3 All 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.

4 For thus the LORD 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.”

5 For 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.

6 They 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.

7 At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the LORD 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 the LORD of hosts, even Mount Zion.