Isaiah 18:1-6

A Prophecy Against Cush

1 Woe to the land of whirring wings^[a]along the rivers of Cush,^[b]

2 which sends envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the water. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.

3 All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it.

4 This is what the LORD says to me: “I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

5 For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, and cut down and take away the spreading branches.

6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey and to the wild animals; the birds will feed on them all summer, the wild animals all winter.

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Isaiah 18:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 18

This chapter is a prophecy of the desolation of a land or country, described by the wings with which it was shaded, and by the rivers by which it was situated, Isa 18:1 by its messengers and message to another nation, which is also described, Isa 18:2 all the nations of the world are called upon to observe the judgment about to be inflicted on it, Isa 18:3 and a promise is made, that at the same time God will take up his rest and dwelling among his own people, and refresh and protect them, Isa 18:4 and the time, and manner, and nature of the destruction of the people before threatened, are metaphorically expressed, Isa 18:5,6 and the issue of all will be the glory of God, since these people will be brought, in after times, as a present to him in Mount Zion, Isa 18:7.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 18

1. Isaiah 5:8
2. S Genesis 10:6; S Psalms 68:31; S Ezekiel 29:10; Isaiah 20:3-5; Eze 30:4-5,9; Zephaniah 2:12; Zephaniah 3:10
3. Obadiah 1:1
4. Exodus 2:3; Job 9:26
5. S Genesis 41:14
6. S Genesis 10:8-9; S 2 Chronicles 12:3
7. ver 7
8. S Psalms 33:8
9. S Psalms 60:4; Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 13:2; Isaiah 31:9; Jeremiah 4:21
10. S Joshua 6:20; S Judges 3:27
11. Isaiah 62:1; Isaiah 64:12
12. Isaiah 26:21; Hosea 5:15; Micah 1:3
13. S Judges 5:31; S Psalms 18:12; Habakkuk 3:4
14. 2 Samuel 1:21; S Psalms 133:3; Isaiah 26:19; Hosea 14:5
15. S Isaiah 10:33
16. Isaiah 17:10-11; Ezekiel 17:6
17. S Isaiah 8:8
18. Isaiah 37:36; Isaiah 56:9; Jeremiah 7:33; Ezekiel 32:4; Ezekiel 39:17

Footnotes 2

[a]. Or "of locusts"
[b]. That is, the upper Nile region