Isaiah 18:1
New International Version
Woe to the land of whirring wings along the rivers of Cush,

New Living Translation
Listen, Ethiopia—land of fluttering sails that lies at the headwaters of the Nile,

English Standard Version
Ah, land of whirring wings that is beyond the rivers of Cush,

Berean Standard Bible
Woe to the land of whirring wings, along the rivers of Cush,

King James Bible
Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

New King James Version
Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings, Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

New American Standard Bible
Woe, land of whirring wings Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush,

NASB 1995
Alas, oh land of whirring wings Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush,

NASB 1977
Alas, oh land of whirring wings Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush,

Legacy Standard Bible
Alas, O land of whirring wings Which lies beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

Amplified Bible
Woe (judgment is coming) to the land of whirring wings Which is beyond the rivers of Cush (Ethiopia),

Christian Standard Bible
Woe to the land of buzzing insect wings beyond the rivers of Cush,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Ah! The land of buzzing insect wings beyond the rivers of Cush

American Standard Version
Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Woe to the land of the shadow of wings that is at the crossing of the rivers of Kush

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Woe to you, ye wings of the land of ships, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.

Contemporary English Version
Downstream from Ethiopia lies the country of Egypt, swarming with insects.

Douay-Rheims Bible
WOE to the land, the winged cymbal, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

English Revised Version
Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
How horrible it will be for the land of whirring wings which lies beyond the rivers of Sudan.

Good News Translation
Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia there is a land where the sound of wings is heard.

International Standard Version
Woe to the land of whirring wings that is beyond the rivers of Cush,

JPS Tanakh 1917
Ah, land of the buzzing of wings, Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;

Literal Standard Version
Behold, land shadowed [with] wings, | That [is] beyond the rivers of Cush,

Majority Standard Bible
Woe to the land of whirring wings, along the rivers of Cush,

New American Bible
Ah! Land of buzzing insects, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

NET Bible
The land of buzzing wings is as good as dead, the one beyond the rivers of Cush,

New Revised Standard Version
Ah, land of whirring wings beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

New Heart English Bible
Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;

Webster's Bible Translation
Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush:

World English Bible
Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;

Young's Literal Translation
Ho, land shadowed with wings, That is beyond the rivers of Cush,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
A Message to Cush
1Woe to the land of whirring wings, along the rivers of Cush, 2which sends couriers by sea, in papyrus vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people widely feared, to a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.…

Cross References
2 Kings 19:9
Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: "Look, he has set out to fight against you." So Sennacherib again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

Isaiah 20:3
Then the LORD said, "Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,

Isaiah 37:9
Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: "He has set out to fight against you." On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

Isaiah 45:14
This is what the LORD says: "The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: 'God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.'"

Ezekiel 30:4
A sword will come against Egypt, and there will be anguish in Cush when the slain fall in Egypt, its wealth is taken away, and its foundations are torn down.

Ezekiel 30:5
Cush, Put, and Lud, and all the various peoples, as well as Libya and the men of the covenant land, will fall with Egypt by the sword.

Ezekiel 30:9
On that day messengers will go out from Me in ships to frighten Cush out of complacency. Anguish will come upon them on the day of Egypt's doom. For it is indeed coming.


Treasury of Scripture

Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

A.

the land

Isaiah 20:3-6
And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; …

Isaiah 30:2,3
That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! …

Isaiah 31:1
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!

shadowing

Ruth 2:12
The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

Psalm 17:8
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

Psalm 36:7
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

which

2 Kings 19:9
And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,

Ezekiel 30:4,5
And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down…

Zephaniah 2:12
Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.

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Isaiah 18
1. God, in care of his people, will destroy the Ethiopians
7. An accession thereby shall be made to the church














XVIII.

(1) Woe to the land shadowing with wings.--A new kingdom, hitherto unnamed by Isaiah, comes now within his horizon. The movements of Tirhakah, king of Cush or Ethiopia, from the upper valley of the Nile, subduing Egypt, and prepared to enter into conflict with the great Assyrian king (Isaiah 37:9), had apparently excited the hopes of such of Hezekiah's counsellors as put their trust in an arm of flesh. To these Isaiah now turns with words of warning. The words "shadowing with wings" have been very variously interpreted as implying (1) the image of a mighty eagle stretching out its imperial wings (Ezekiel 17:1-8); (2) the ur?us or disk with outspread wings which appears in Egyptian paintings as the symbol of Ethiopian sovereignty; (3) the rendering resounding being adopted instead of "shadowing," the swarms of the tse-tse fly that have been the terror of all travellers in Abyssinia. Of these (2) has most to commend it, and receives confirmation from the inscription of Piankhi-Mer-Amon, translated by Canon Cook in Records of the Past (2 p. 89), in which that king, an Ethiopian, who had conquered Egypt, appears with the ur?us on his head, and the chiefs of the north and south cry out to him, "Grant us to be under thy shadow." (Comp. Isaiah 30:2-3.) The phrase, "beyond the river," points, as in Zephaniah 3:10, to the region of the White and the Blue Nile, south of Meroe or Sennar, and not far from the Lake Nyanza of modern explorers.

Verses 1-7. - THE HOMAGE OF ETHIOPIA TO JEHOVAH. Amid the general excitement caused by the advance of Assyria, Ethiopia also is stirred, and stirred to its furthest limits. The king sends messengers in beats upon the canals and rivers to summon his troops to his standard (vers. 1, 2). The earth stands agaze to see the result of the approaching collision (ver. 3); but God rests calmly in heaven while events are ripening (vers. 4, 5). When the time comes he will strike the blow - Assyria will be given to the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field (ver. 6). Then Ethiopia will make an act of homage to Jehovah by the sending of a present to Jerusalem (ver. 7). The time seems to be that immediately preceding the great invasion of Sennacherib (about B.C. 700), when Shabatok the Ethiopian was King of Egypt, and Tirhakah (Tahark) either Crown Prince under him, or more probably Lord Paramount of Egypt over him, and reigning at Napata. Verse 1. - Woe to the land; rather, Ho for the land! (comp. Isaiah 17:12). Shadowing with wings; literally, either the land of the shadow of wings or the land of the noise of wings, most probably the latter. Allusion is thought to be made to the swarms of buzzing flies, especially the tsetse, with which Ethiopia abounds. At the same time, these swarms are, perhaps, intended to be taken as emblems of the hosts of warriors which Ethiopia can send forth (comp. Isaiah 7:18). Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. The prophet cannot be supposed to have had more than a vague knowledge of African geography. He seems, however, robe aware that Ethiopia is a land of many rivers (see Baker's 'Nile Tributaries'), and he assumes that the dominion of the Ethiopian kings extends even beyond these rivers to the south of them. His object is, as Mr. Cheyne says, "to emphasize the greatness of Ethiopia." It may be questioned, however, whether the dominion of the Ethiopian kings of the time extended so far as he supposed. The seat of their power was Napata, now Gebel Berkal, in the great bend of the Nile between lat. 18° and 19° N.; and its southern limit was probably Khar-toum and the line of the Blue Nile (see Rawlinson's 'History of Ancient Egypt,' vol. 2. p. 436).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Woe
ה֥וֹי (hō·w)
Interjection
Strong's 1945: Ah! alas! ha!

to the land
אֶ֖רֶץ (’e·reṣ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land

of whirring
צִלְצַ֣ל (ṣil·ṣal)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 6767: A clatter, whirring, a cricket, a harpoon, a cymbal

wings,
כְּנָפָ֑יִם (kə·nā·p̄ā·yim)
Noun - md
Strong's 3671: An edge, extremity, a wing, a flap, a quarter, a pinnacle

along
מֵעֵ֖בֶר (mê·‘ê·ḇer)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5676: A region across, on the opposite side

the rivers
לְנַֽהֲרֵי־ (lə·na·hă·rê-)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 5104: A stream, prosperity

of Cush,
כֽוּשׁ׃ (ḵūš)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 3568: A son of Ham, also his descendants, also a land in the southern Nile Valley


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 18:1 Ah the land of the rustling (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 17:14
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