= Isaiah 18 * Please see [[nsv:license|License]] for Copyright notice and Licensing information. * [ [[Isaiah_17|Previous]] | [[Isaiah_19|Next]] ] == Isaiah 18 1 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. == Notes == Cross Reference == Commentary == Rashi ==== Verse 1 Woe to the land shaded by wings Jonathan renders: to which they come in ships from a distant land, and their sails are spread out like an eagle that flies with its wings. I say, however, that because they live in the east, and the land is hot, birds assemble there, and it is shaded by the birds’ wings. Now this prophecy concerns the armies of Gog and Magog, as the matter is stated in Ezekiel (38: 5) “Persia, Cush, and Put with them.” ==== Verse 2 Go swift messengers to see whether it is true that the Israelites have returned to their place, a nation which is pulled and torn, to a people that is awesome from its inception. from their beginning and onward From the day it was chosen as a people and onward. a nation punished in kind Heb. קַו-קָו [lit. a line for a line, i.e.,] when he is punished for his sin, he is punished in kind and given to be trampled. Alternatively, קַו-קָו is an expression of vomit (קִיא) (Lam. 3:45): “Loathsome and rejected.” river [figurative for] kings. ==== Verse 3 All inhabitants of the world, etc. You need not send messengers for this, for when a standard of the mountains is raised, you shall see the ingathering of the exiles, and when a shofar is sounded you shall hear. ==== Verse 4 I will rest from paying Esau his just deserts; I will turn away from all My affairs and I will look down upon My dwelling-place to do good to it. like a clear heat upon herbs It will illuminate it and cause to shine like the clear heat of the sun on herbs. Comp. (II Kings 4:39) “To gather herbs (אוֹרוֹת) .” like a cloud of dew for which the reapers long, to refresh themselves during the heat of the harvest. ==== Verse 5 For before the ripening of the harvest of Amalek and of Gog, when he has not yet filled his desire and his hope, that he plans to destroy his brothers. when the blossom is past i.e., when its blossom is past and the grain is close to becoming ripe in its ears and before the buds of his vine become ripening grapes, ripened to the extent of being בֹּסֶר, i.e., when the grapes become as big as a white bean. This is called בֹּסֶר and also גֵּרוּעַ. and he shall cut off i.e., the cutter shall cut off the tendrils; these are the branches and the boughs. with pruning hooks sarpes in O.F. [serpes in Modern French]. and the roots These are the roots of the vines, called ceps in O.F. he cut [them] off Heb. הֵתַּז. i.e., to say that He shall slay the officers and the rulers of Esau and of Gog and his armies and his allies. ==== Verse 6 They shall be left [i.e.,] their corpses. to the birds of the mountains Heb. לְעֵיט הָרִים, to the birds of the mountains. shall spend the summer upon them All the days of the summer. shall spend the winter All the days of the winter. From there they deduced that the judgment of Gog in the future shall be twelve months.