1 Woe to the land of the buzzing {tsiltsal: onomatopoeic sound} of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush {kush: ancient land south of Egypt}.
2 Which sends envoys by sea and in vessels of papyrus upon the surface of the waters, saying, “Go, swift messengers, to a nation drawn out {memushakh: spread thinly} and peeled, to a people awesome from its beginning onwards, a nation measured line by line {kav-kav: measured repetition} and trampled, whose land the rivers divide.”
3 All you inhabitants {yoshvei: people of all nations} of the world and those who dwell on the earth: when a banner {nes: military signal} is raised on the mountains, you will see it; and when the trumpet is sounded, you will hear.
4 For thus the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Watcher} said to me, “I will be quiet {eshqotah: undisturbed stillness} and I will observe from My dwelling place, like clear heat upon the light, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is complete and the unripe grape is ripening, it will be a bud; He {YHWH, Timely Judge} will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and the tendrils He will remove {hesir: clear away} and lop off.
6 They shall be left together to the bird of prey of the mountains {harim: rugged heights} and to the beast of the land; and the bird of prey shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the land shall winter {cheraf: cold season} upon them.
7 At that time, tribute shall be brought to the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Divine Commander} from a people drawn out and peeled {morat: smooth, bare}, and from a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation line by line and trodden down, whose land the rivers have despoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, Mount Zion.