Go, swift messengers, To a nation far and remote, To a people thrust forth and away— A nation of gibber and chatter— Whose land is cut off by streams; Which sends out envoys by sea, In papyrus vessels upon the water!
[Say this:] “All you who live in the world And inhabit the earth, When a flag is raised in the hills, take note! When a ram’s horn is blown, give heed!”
For thus GOD said to me: “I rest calm and confident “to rely” (Job 6.19). The related noun mabbaṭ occurs with similar meaning in Isa. 20.5, 6. in My habitation— Like a scorching heat upon sprouts, Like a rain-cloud in the heat of reaping time.”
For before the harvest, yet after the budding, When the blossom has hardened into berries, [God] will trim away the twigs with pruning hooks, And lop off the trailing branches.
They shall all be left To the kites of the hills And to the beasts of the earth; The kites shall summer on them And all the beasts of the earth shall winter on them.
In that time, Tribute shall be brought to GOD of Hosts [From] a people far and remote, From a people thrust forth and away— A nation of gibber and chatter, Whose land is cut off by streams— At the place where the name of GOD of Hosts abides, At Mount Zion.
