1Woe to the land with spreading wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush,

2That sendeth on the sea ambassadors, and in vessels of bulrushes messengers over the face of the waters. Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation pulled and torn, to a people terrible from their beginning and onward; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

3All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, when the ensign is lifted up on the mountains, see ye; and when the cornet is blown, hear ye.

4For so hath said the Lord unto me, I will take my rest, and I will look down on my dwelling-place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

5For before the harvest, when the blossom is past, and the flower becometh a ripening grape, will he both cut off the tendrils with pruning-knives, and the sprigs will he remove and cut down.

6They shall be left together unto the birds of prey of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the birds of prey shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

7At that time shall be brought as a present unto the Lord of hosts a people pulled and torn, and a people terrible from their beginning and onward; 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.