WOE to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 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!
3 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.
4 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.
5 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.
6 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.
7 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.

1Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the riuers of Ethiopia:

2That sendeth ambassadours by the sea, euen in vessels of bulrushes vpon the waters, saying; Goe yee swift messengers to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, a nation meted out and troden downe; whose land the riuers haue spoiled.

3All yee inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see yee, when hee lifteth vp an ensigne on the mountaines; and when he bloweth a trumpet, heare yee.

4For so the Lord sayd vnto me: I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a cleare heate vpon herbes, and like a cloud of dew in the heate of haruest.

5For afore the haruest when the bud is perfect, and the sowre grape is ripening in the flowre; hee shall both cut off the sprigges with pruning hookes, and take away and cut downe the branches.

6They shalbe left together vnto the foules of the mountaines, and to the beasts of the earth: and the foules shall summer vpon them, and all the beastes of the earth shall winter vpon them.

7 In that time shall the present be brought vnto the Lord of hostes, of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and troden vnder foote, whose land the riuers haue spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hostes, the mount Zion.

I == Isa 20:4-5 ; Ezek 30:4-5 , 9 ; Zeph 2:12 ; 3:10

 

II == Isa 13:7

 

 

 

III == Isa 5:26

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VII == Ps 68:31 ; 72:10 ; Isa 13:2 ; 16:1 ; Zeph 3:10 ; Mal 1:11

1 Ah, land of buzzing insects, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

2 Sending ambassadors by sea, in papyrus boats on the waters! Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and bronzed, To a people dreaded near and far, a nation strong and conquering, whose land is washed by rivers.

3 All you who inhabit the world, who dwell on earth, When the signal is raised on the mountain, look! When the trumpet blows, listen!

4 For thus says the LORD to me: I will quietly look on from where I dwell, Like the glowing heat of sunshine, like a cloud of dew at harvest time.

5 Before the vintage, when the flowering is ended, and the blooms are succeeded by ripening grapes, Then comes the cutting of branches with pruning hooks and the discarding of the lopped-off shoots.

6 They shall all be left to the mountain birds of prey, and to the beasts in the land; The birds of prey shall summer on them and on them all the beasts of the earth shall winter.

7 Then will gifts be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and bronzed, from a people dreaded near and far, a nation strong and conquering, whose land is washed by rivers - to Mount Zion where dwells the name of the LORD of hosts.

This chapter is a good example of Scriptures used by sensationalists to try to prove a point. The end goals may be right, but the verses used to prove their point is taken totally out of context. For example: Verses of Jerusalem’s water gate they have linked with Nixon and “Watergate”; Prov. 26:16, taking a dog by the ears, to Lyndon Johnston tweaking his dogs ears for disobedience; Zech. 11:8, three shepherds die in one month to Roosevelt, Hitler, and Stalin supposedly dying in April 1945; Zeph. 1:14-16 and Isa. 30:25-28, towers falling, to the destruction of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on 9-11-02. In this chapter they refer all this to the United States with our airplanes, ships, people “strong and energetic”, land surveyed, and divided by rivers.
Having said all that, I would like to insert a “disclaimer” We are looking for an imminent Rapture. Many of us teach that the city of Babylon to be destroyed in the book of Revelation is a rebuilt Babylon on the Euphrates. How God will accomplish this in a short time is not known. It may be possible that these people are right, and that New York City is the Babylon of today with all of it’s commerce, arts and entertainment. I am not teaching that, but I am open to the possibility.

v 1,2. An ambassage from Ethiopia and surrounding area, land of locusts, came by boats to make an alliance with Israel, which was denounced, ch. 30, 31 and Jer. 37:7-11. They were tall, fearless, speaking a strange language. The Nile is branched.

v 3-6. The Cushite, Ethiopian, ambassage was told to go home, the Lord would strike in His own time. After Israel was punished, then God would cut off Assyria.

v 7. After that, Cushites and others would bring gifts to Israel, possibly referring to what will take place in the Millennial Kingdom. (40 interpretations to part of this chap. That this is the Sudan read on next page part of an article from Wycliffe.