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v1
Ah! land of the whirring of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush,
v2
that sends messengers by the sea and in vessels of papyrus on the surface of the waters! Go, swift messengers, to a tall ^[Literally “stretched out”] and smooth ^[Literally “peeled,” “wiped clean,” or “hairless”] nation, to a people feared near and far, ^[Literally “from this and beyond”] a mighty, mighty ^[Perhaps this is a gibberish phrase in Hebrew, qaw-qaw] and trampling ^[Meaning uncertain] nation, whose land rivers divide.
v3
All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers of the earth, when a signal is raised on the ^[Literally “as a raising of a signal”] mountains, you must look, and when a trumpet is blown, ^[Literally “as a blowing of a trumpet”] you must listen!
v4
For Yahweh said this to me: “I will be quiet, and I will look from my dwelling place like clear heat because of light, ^[The meaning of this phrase is uncertain; perhaps the “light” is sunlight] like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
v5
For before the harvest, when the blossom is complete ^[Literally “as a completion of a blossom”] and a blossom becomes ripening fruit, and one cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and one removes, tears away the tendrils.
v6
They shall all be left ^[Literally “be left together”] for birds ^[Hebrew “bird”] of prey of the mountains and for the animals ^[Hebrew “animal”] of the earth. And the birds ^[Hebrew “bird”] of prey will pass the summer on it, and every animal of the earth will winter on it.
v7
At that time, a gift ^[Perhaps tribute is meant] will be brought to Yahweh of hosts from a tall ^[Literally “stretched out”] and smooth ^[Literally “peeled,” “wiped clean,” or “hairless”] people, and from a people feared near and far, a mighty, mighty and trampling nation, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Yahweh of hosts, the mountain of Zion.