¹Woe to the land of rustling wings,

Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

²Which sends ambassadors by sea

In papyrus vessels over the water,

To say, ‘Go, you swift messengers,

To a people under strain

And plucked bald,

To a people fearsome ever since when they first existed

– A nation of strong rule but trodden down,

Whose land the rivers have devastated.’

³All you inhabitants of the world

And dwellers of the earth:

At the raising of an ensign on the mountains,

Observe it,

And at the sounding of the ramshorn,

Listen.

⁴For this is what the Lord has said to me:

‘I will be quiet,

And I will look at my abode,

Like a serene heat in daylight,

And like a cloud of dew

In the heat of the harvest.’

⁵For before the harvest when the blossom has come to an end,

And unripe grapes become mature from the flower,

He will cut the branches with pruning shears

And cut and remove the shoots.

⁶They will be left together

To the birds of prey of the mountains

And the wild animals.

And the birds of prey will prey on them in the summer,

While all the wild animals will be the predators in the winter.

⁷At that time a gift will be brought to the Lord of hosts

– By a people under strain

And plucked bald,

And from a people fearsome ever since when they first existed,

A nation of strong rule but trodden down,

Whose land the rivers have devastated –

Brought to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts:

Mount Zion.”