18  Ah, land of ^owhirring wings

that is beyond the rivers of ^pCush,¹

2  which ^qsends ambassadors by the sea,

in vessels of papyrus on the waters!

Go, you swift messengers,

to a nation ^rtall and smooth,

to a people feared near and far,

a nation ^smighty and conquering,

whose land the rivers divide.

3  All you inhabitants of the world,

you who dwell on the earth,

when ^ta signal is raised on the mountains, look!

When a trumpet is blown, hear!

4  For thus the Lord said to me:

“I will quietly look ^ufrom my dwelling

like clear heat in sunshine,

like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

5  ^vFor before the harvest, when the blossom is over,

and the flower becomes a ripening grape,

he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks,

and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.

6  ^vThey shall all of them be left

to the birds of prey of the mountains

and to the beasts of the earth.

And the birds of prey will summer on them,

and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.

from a people ^xtall and smooth,

from a people feared near and far,

a nation mighty and conquering,

whose land the rivers divide,

Behold, the Lord ^cis riding on a swift cloud

and comes to Egypt;

and ^dthe idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,

and the heart of the Egyptians will ^emelt within them.

2  And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,

^fand they will fight, each against another

and each against his neighbor,

city against city, kingdom against kingdom;

3  and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,

and I will confound¹ their ^gcounsel;

and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,

and ^hthe mediums and the necromancers;

4  and I will give over the Egyptians

into the hand of ⁱa hard master,

and a fierce king will rule over them,

declares the Lord God of hosts.

5  And the waters of the sea will be dried up,

and the river will be dry and parched,

6  and its canals will become foul,

and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up,

reeds and rushes will rot away.

7  There will be bare places by the Nile,

on the brink of the Nile,

and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,

will be driven away, and will be no more.

8  The ^jfishermen will mourn and lament,

all who cast a hook in the Nile;

and they will languish

who spread nets on the water.

9  The workers in ^kcombed flax will be in despair,

and the weavers of white cotton.

10  Those who are the ^lpillars of the land will be crushed,

and all who ^mwork for pay will be grieved.

11  The princes of ⁿZoan are utterly foolish;

the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.

How can you say to Pharaoh,

“I am a son of the wise,

a son of ancient kings”?

12  Where then are your ^owise men?

Let them tell you

that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.

13  The princes of ⁿZoan have become fools,

and the princes of ^pMemphis are deluded;

those who are the ^qcornerstones of her tribes

have made Egypt stagger.

14  The Lord has mingled within her ^ra spirit of confusion,

and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,

^sas a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

15  And there will be nothing for Egypt

that ^thead or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.

^vAs whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,

it comes from the wilderness,

from a terrible land.

2  A stern vision is told to me;

^wthe traitor betrays,

and the destroyer destroys.

Go up, O ^xElam;

lay siege, O ^yMedia;

all the ^zsighing she has caused

I bring to an end.

3  Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;

^apangs have seized me,

like the pangs of a woman in labor;

I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;

I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

4  My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;

^bthe twilight I longed for

has been turned for me into trembling.

5  ^cThey prepare the table,

they spread the rugs,¹

they eat, they drink.

Arise, O princes;

^doil the shield!

6  For thus the Lord said to me:

“Go, set a watchman;

let him announce what he sees.

7  When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,

riders on donkeys, riders on camels,

let him listen diligently,

very diligently.”

8  Then he who saw cried out:²

^e“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,

continually by day,

and at my post I am stationed

whole nights.

9  And behold, here come riders,

horsemen in pairs!”

^fAnd he answered,

^g“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;

^hand all the carved images of her gods

he has shattered to the ground.”

10  O ⁱmy threshed and winnowed one,

what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel, I announce to you.

One is calling to me from ^lSeir,

“Watchman, what time of the night?

Watchman, what time of the night?”

12  The watchman says:

“Morning comes, and also ^mthe night.

If you will inquire, ⁿinquire;

come back again.”

In the thickets in ^pArabia you will lodge,

O ^qcaravans of ^pDedanites.

14  To the thirsty bring water;

meet the fugitive with bread,

O inhabitants of the land of ^rTema.

15  For they have fled from the swords,

from the drawn sword,

from the bent bow,

and from the press of battle.

What do you mean that you have gone up,

all of you, to the housetops,

2  you who are full of shoutings,

tumultuous city, ^xexultant town?

Your slain are ^ynot slain with the sword

or dead in battle.

3  ^zAll your leaders have fled together;

without the bow they were captured.

All of you who were found were captured,

though they had fled far away.

4  Therefore I said:

“Look away from me;

^alet me weep bitter tears;

do not labor to comfort me

concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

5  ^bFor the Lord God of hosts has ^ca day

of tumult and ^dtrampling and ^econfusion

in ^wthe valley of vision,

a battering down of walls

and a shouting to the mountains.

6  And ^fElam bore the quiver

with chariots and horsemen,

and ^gKir uncovered the shield.

7  Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,

and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.

8  He has taken away ^hthe covering of Judah.

12  In that day ^othe Lord God of hosts

called for weeping and mourning,

for ^pbaldness and ^qwearing sackcloth;

13  and behold, joy and gladness,

killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,

eating flesh and drinking wine.

^r“Let us eat and drink,

for tomorrow we die.”

14  The Lord of hosts ^shas revealed himself in my ears:

“Surely ^tthis iniquity will not be atoned for you ^uuntil you die,”

says the Lord God of hosts.