The Lantern

Isaiah18

Ho! thou land of the buzzing of wings,—Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

That sendeth by the sea, ambassadors Even in vessels of paper-reed, upon the face of the waters,—Go ye swift messengers Unto a nation drawn out and polished, Unto a people terrible from their beginning and onwards,—A nation most mighty and subduing, Whose land rivers have cut through.

All ye inhabitants of the world And ye, that dwell in the earth,—When there is lifted up an ensign on the mountains, Ye shall look, And when there is blown a horn, Ye shall hearken.

For, thus, said Yahweh unto me,—I must be quiet I must look on in my fixed place of abode,—Like a bright heat on the light, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

For before harvest, when the bud is perfect, And, the blossom, becometh a ripening grape, Then will one cut down the twigs with pruning-hooks, And the tendrils, will he remove [and] cast down:

They shall be left together. To the ravenous birds, of the mountains, And to the beast of the earth,—Then shall the ravenous bird, summer upon them, And, every beast of the earth, upon them, shall winter.

In that time, shall there be borne along. As a present unto Yahweh of hosts A people drawn out and polished, Even from a people terrible from their beginning and onwards,—nation most mighty and subduing Whose land rivers, have cut through, Unto the place of the Name of Yahweh of hosts. Mount Zion.