Isaiah 18
What Happens in This Chapter
Isaiah speaks a warning to a land far away, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, that sends messengers in reed boats. God tells Isaiah that he will watch quietly from his home, and then cut back the branches before harvest, leaving them for birds and wild animals. At the end of the chapter, gifts are brought from that people to Mount Zion, the place of the LORD's name.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
1Trouble is coming to the land where wings whir and buzz. That land lies along the rivers of Ethiopia, far away.
"Woe" is an old word that means trouble is coming. In the Bible, Ethiopia (also called Cush) is a land far south of Egypt, along the Nile River.
2That 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!
2That land sends messengers over the water in light reed boats. It says, "Go quickly, messengers. Go to a people who are tall and smooth-skinned. Everyone is afraid of them. They are strong, and they speak a language others do not know. Rivers cut right through their land."
"Vessels of bulrushes" means small, light boats made from tall reeds that grow by the river. The old words "scattered and peeled" do not mean broken apart. They describe people who are tall with smooth skin.
3All 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.
3All you people who live on the earth, watch and listen. When a flag is raised up on the mountains, you will see it. When a horn is blown, you will hear it.
4For 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.
4The LORD said this to me: "I will stay still and watch from my home. I will be like the heat that shimmers in the sunshine. I will be like a cloud of dew on a hot harvest day."
5For 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.
5Before the harvest comes, the flowers fall and the grapes start to grow. Then he will cut off the new shoots with a cutting knife. He will cut the branches away and throw them down.
6They 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.
6The cut branches will be left there on the ground. The birds from the mountains will have them. The wild animals will have them too. Birds will feed on them all summer. Animals will feed on them all winter.
7In 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.
7At that time, gifts will be brought to the LORD of Hosts. They will come from that tall, smooth-skinned people. Everyone is afraid of them. They are strong, and they speak a language others do not know. Rivers cut right through their land. The gifts will be carried to Mount Zion. That is the place where the name of the LORD of Hosts lives.
"The LORD of Hosts" means the LORD who leads great armies. Mount Zion is the hill in Jerusalem where God's temple stood.
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