Geneva Study Bible Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: Woe to the {a} land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush:
(a) He means that part of Ethiopia which lies toward the sea, which was so full of ships that the sails (which he compares to wings) seemed to shadow the sea. That 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! That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of {b} bulrushes upon the waters, saying, {c} Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and stripped, to a {d} people terrible from their beginning to this time; a nation measured by line and trodden down, whose land the {e} rivers have laid waste!
(b) Which is those countries were great, so much so that they made ships from them for swiftness. (c) This may be taken that they sent others to comfort the Jews and to promise them help against their enemies, and so the Lord threatened to take away their strength, that the Jews should not trust in it: or that they solicited the Egyptians and promised them aid to go against Judah. (d) That is, the Jews who because of God's plague made all other nations afraid of the same, as God threatened in De 28:37. (e) Meaning the Assyrians, Isa 8:7. All 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. All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when {f} he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
(f) When the Lord prepared to fight against the Ethiopians. For 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. For so the LORD said to me, I will take my {g} rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a {h} clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
(g) I will stay a while from punishing the wicked. (h) Which two seasons are profitable for the ripening of fruit, by which he means that he will seem to favour them and give them abundance for a time, but he will suddenly cut them off. For 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. For 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.
They 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. They shall be left together to the fowls of the mountains, and to the {i} beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
(i) Not only men will contemn them, but the brute beast. In 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. In that time shall the {k} present be brought to the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and stripped, and from a people terrible from their beginning to this time; a nation measured by line and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion. (k) Meaning that God will pity his Church, and receive that little remnant as an offering to himself. The Geneva Bible Translation Notes [1599] Bible Hub |
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