Isaiah Institute Translation
Isaiah 18
- a4 Hebrew ᵓôr, light, emended to ᵓôreh.
King James Version
KJV
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Isaiah Institute Translation
IIT
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Masoretic Text
HEB
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Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: | 1 | Woe to the land of buzzing wingsbeyond the rivers of Cush, | הוֹי אֶרֶץ צִלְצַל כְּנָפָיִם אֲשֶׁר מֵעֵבֶר לְנַהֲרֵי־כוּשׁ ׃ |
That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled! | 2 | which sends emissaries by sea,in swift craft across the water!They say, Go speedily, you messengers!Go to a people perpetually on the move,a nation dreaded far and wide,a people continually infringing,whose rivers have annexed their lands. | הַשֹּׁלֵחַ בַּיָּם צִירִים וּבִכְלֵי־גֹמֶא עַל־פְּנֵי־מַיִם לְכוּ מַלְאָכִים קַלִּים אֶל־גּוֹי מְמֻשָּׁךְ וּמוֹרָט אֶל־עַם נוֹרָא מִן־הוּא וָהָלְאָה גּוֹי קַו־קָו וּמְבוּסָה אֲשֶׁר־בָּזְאוּ נְהָרִים אַרְצוֹ ׃ |
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. | 3 | All you who live in the world,you inhabitants of the earth,look to the ensignwhen it is lifted up in the mountains;heed the trumpet when sounded! | כָּל־יֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל וְשֹׁכְנֵי אָרֶץ כִּנְשֹׂא־נֵס הָרִים תִּרְאוּ וְכִתְקֹעַ שׁוֹפָר תִּשְׁמָעוּ ׃ |
For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. | 4 | For thus said Jehovah to me:I will watch in silence over my dwelling placewhen the searing heat overtakes the reapers,aand when the rainclouds appearamid the fever of reaping. | כִּי כֹה אָמַר יְהוָה אֵלַי אֶשְׁקֳוטָה (אֶשְׁקֳטָה) וְאַבִּיטָה בִמְכוֹנִי כְּחֹם צַח עֲלֵי־אוֹר כְּעָב טַל בְּחֹם קָצִיר ׃ |
For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. | 5 | For before the harvest,when the time of flowering is pastand the set blossoms are developing into young fruit,they will cut down the fruit-bearing twigs with knivesand remove the new branches by slashing. | כִּי־לִפְנֵי קָצִיר כְּתָם־פֶּרַח וּבֹסֶר גֹּמֵל יִהְיֶה נִצָּה וְכָרַת הַזַּלְזַלִּים בַּמַּזְמֵרוֹת וְאֶת־הַנְּטִישׁוֹת הֵסִיר הֵתַז ׃ |
They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. | 6 | All shall be left to the birds of preyof the mountainsand to the beasts of the land:the birds of prey will feed on them all summerand the beasts of the land all winter. | יֵעָזְבוּ יַחְדָּו לְעֵיט הָרִים וּלְבֶהֱמַת הָאָרֶץ וְקָץ עָלָיו הָעַיִט וְכָל־בֶּהֱמַת הָאָרֶץ עָלָיו תֶּחֱרָף ׃ |
In that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion. | 7 | At that time shall tribute be broughtto Jehovah of Hostsfrom a nation perpetually on the move,from a nation dreaded far and wide,a people continually infringing,whose rivers have annexed their lands,to the place of the name of Jehovah of Hosts:Mount Zion. | בָּעֵת הַהִיא יוּבַל־שַׁי לַיהוָה צְבָאוֹת עַם מְמֻשָּׁךְ וּמוֹרָט וּמֵעַם נוֹרָא מִן־הוּא וָהָלְאָה גּוֹי קַו־קָו וּמְבוּסָה אֲשֶׁר בָּזְאוּ נְהָרִים אַרְצוֹ אֶל־מְקוֹם שֵׁם־יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת הַר־צִיּוֹן ׃ |
וַיְהִי בִּימֵי אָחָז בֶּן־יוֹתָם בֶּן־עֻזִּיָּהוּ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה עָלָה רְצִין מֶלֶךְ־אֲרָם וּפֶקַח בֶּן־רְמַלְיָהוּ מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל יְרוּשָׁלִַם לַמִּלְחָמָה עָלֶיהָ וְלֹא יָכֹל לְהִלָּחֵם עָלֶיהָ ׃ | |
King James Version
KJV
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Isaiah Institute Translation
IIT
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And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. |
When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not overpower it. |
Apocalyptic Commentary |
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Two generations of kings from the time Isaiah receives his prophetic commission, an expansionist Assyria threatens to invade the kingdom of Aram (Syria), the ten-tribed Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah and to annex them into its empire. When King Ahaz of Judah refuses to join Aram and Israel in an alliance to resist Assyria, they invade the Southern Kingdom to overthrow Ahaz and put a puppet ruler on his throne who will join their coalition. Ahaz, moreover, becomes an important type in the Book of Isaiah of an end-time ruler who proves disloyal to Israel’s God. |
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Apocalyptic Commentary
Isaiah 18
Jehovah pronounces a curse on the “land of buzzing wings”—on Egypt (Isaiah 7:18)—which lives in fear of the expansionist aims of Assyria, a land of rivers that overflow their banks and invade other lands (Isaiah 8:7-10). Egypt’s emissaries and messengers hastily attempt to forestall what portends to be an invasion of Egypt, the world’s great superpower. Aggressive and militant, Assyria is “dreaded far and wide” (Isaiah 8:9; 20:6; 51:13). As it has done to other nations—annexing their lands—so it threatens its rival world power that suffers from internal weakness and decline (Isaiah 19:13-15).
At the very time Jehovah brings catastrophe on those who don’t repent, he prepares a way of deliverance for those who do repent. Indeed, the destruction of the wicked is the deliverance of the righteous because when the wicked are destroyed the righteous no longer suffer oppression at their hands. As Jehovah’s Day of Judgment involves “all you who live in the world,” Jehovah gives all a chance to repent. He raises up his servant—his ensign to the nations—to rally his exiled people (Isaiah 11:10-12; 49:22; 62:10-11), warning them as a trumpet and summoning them home (Isaiah 27:13; 55:4-5; 58:1).
In the same way a rainstorm spells disaster at a grain harvest, so Jehovah’s Day of Judgment arrives at the worst moment: (1) literally at harvest time, depriving Jehovah’s unrepentant people of food; and (2) figuratively at Jehovah’s harvest of the wicked when they are least expecting it. Jehovah’s informing his servant of the approaching calamity spells hope for those who heed his summons (v 3). Although Jehovah is a sanctuary for those who love him (Isaiah 8:14; 25:4-5), he doesn’t hinder the searing heat—the archtyrant’s destruction—from overtaking the wicked (Isaiah 9:18-19; 33:14-16).
Before the fruit harvest—indicating the time of year—the enemy invades the land and despoils the orchards, leaving little that sustains life. While the land’s desolation by aliens and its overrunning by wildlife represent covenant curses, the birds of prey and beasts of the land additionally signify infestation by bands of marauders who seek subsistence wherever they can find it: “The whole land shall revert to wilderness” (Isaiah 7:24); “Hawks and falcons shall possess it, and owls and ravens inhabit it” (Isaiah 34:11); “All you wild beasts, you animals of the forest, come and devour!” (Isaiah 56:9).
In the end, Assyria, the nation that caused worldwide desolation, is subdued (Isaiah 14:25). Its survivors—“so few a child could record them” (Isaiah 10:19)—are the descendants of the lost Ten Tribes who went captive into Assyria in 722 B.C. (2 Kings 18:9-12). They escape destruction by coming in an exodus to Zion (Isaiah 11:11, 16; 19:23; 43:6). Brought by the spiritual kings and queens of the Gentiles, they bring their “tribute” or “gifts” (say) to the God of their fathers (Isaiah 49:22-23; 60:3-17). In the millennial age, they comprise one of three groups of Jehovah’s elect people (Isaiah 19:24-25).