UNROLL
First light in a papyrus marsh on the upper Nile: tall papyrus heads, still brown water, and a light papyrus boat drawn up among the stems.

The nations judged

Isaiah 18

Envoys hurried up and down the Nile looking for help. Where do you run first when you’re afraid?

7 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
  2. 6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
  3. 7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
  4. 13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earthChapter 18
  5. 24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
  6. 28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
  7. 36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
  8. 40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
  9. 49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
  10. 56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

A Message to Cush

Isaiah
Morning on the broad Nile: two light papyrus boats carrying tall Cushite envoys in white linen glide fast downstream, paddlers working, papyrus and palms along the bank.

Woe to the land of whirring wings,

along the rivers of Cush,

which sends couriers by sea,

in papyrus vessels on the waters.

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Isaiah

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.

Isaiah

All you people of the world

and dwellers of the earth,

when a banner is raised on the mountains,

you will see it;

when a ram’s horn sounds,

you will hear it.

Isaiah 18:3

God
Noon over ripening harvest fields: heat shimmering in waves above the grain, a thin haze of dew-mist still lying in the low hollows, under a quiet sky.

For this is what the LORD has told me:

“I will quietly look on from My dwelling place,

like shimmering heat in the sunshine,

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

Question

Quick question

While envoys rush up and down the Nile, the LORD tells Isaiah what He will do. Read verse 4 again before you answer.

What does the LORD say He will do?

Isaiah
Isaiah

For before the harvest, when the blossom is gone

and the flower becomes a ripening grape,

He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife

and remove and discard the branches.

Isaiah

They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey,

and to the beasts of the land.

The birds will feed on them in summer,

and all the wild animals in winter.

Isaiah
Morning on the road up to Jerusalem: a line of tall Cushite men, seen from behind and small, carrying bundles, ivory tusks, ebony logs and jars on their shoulders toward the city on its ridge.

At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of Hosts—

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,

from a people widely feared,

from a powerful nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers—

to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD of Hosts.

0:17

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Pray

LORD of Hosts, You look on quietly and You are never late. Keep me from rushing everywhere for help, and bring the nations with their gifts to You. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 18

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A verse to carry with you

All you people of the world and dwellers of the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it; when a ram’s horn sounds, you will hear it.

Isaiah 18:3

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