Ethiopia Will Be Punished

1 Downstream from Ethiopia+

lies the country of Egypt,

swarming with insects.+

2Egypt sends messengers

up the Nile River

on ships made of reeds.+

Send them fast to Ethiopia,

whose people are tall

and have smooth skin.

Their land is divided by rivers;

they are strong and brutal,

feared all over the world.+

3Everyone on this earth,

listen with care!

A signal will be given

on the mountains,

and you will hear a trumpet.

4The Lord said to me,

“I will calmly look down

from my home above—

as calmly as the sun at noon

or clouds in the heat

of harvest season.”

5Before the blossoms

can turn into grapes,

God will cut off the sprouts

and hack off the branches.

6Ethiopians will be food

for mountain vultures

during the summer

and for wild animals

during the winter.

7Those Ethiopians are tall and their skin is smooth. They are feared all over the world, because they are strong and brutal. But at that time they will come from their land divided by rivers, and they will bring gifts to the Lord All-Powerful, who is worshiped on Mount Zion.