1 Ho, land shadowed with wings, That is beyond the rivers of Cush,
Hippolytus of Rome · AD 235 The word of Isaiah: "Woe to the wings of the vessels of the land, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: (woe to him) who sends sureties by the sea, and letters of papyrus [on the water; for nimble messengers will go] to a nation anxious and expectant, and a people strange and bitter against them; a nation hopeless and trodden down."But we who hope for the Son of God are persecuted and…
Cyril of Alexandria · AD 444 Someone might wonder and say to himself, "Why does the prophetic oracle addressed to Damascus now mention the land that is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia?" At certain times the Israelites foolishly abandoned God the Savior of all and fell into the error of worshiping many gods.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Woe to the land, the winged cymbal. Here he threatens against the Egyptians. And first, he threatens their punishment through comparison to what merits the punishment; in the second part, he describes the manner of the punishment: the burden of Egypt (ch. 19); in the third part, he designates the time of the punishment: in the year (ch. 20).
2 That is sending by sea ambassadors, Even with implements of reed on the face of the waters, --Go, ye light messengers, Unto a nation drawn out and peeled, Unto a people fearful from its beginning and onwards, A nation meeting out by line, and treading down, Whose land floods have spoiled.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 2) And it is said about their teaching and their language: You who send books of this age into the sea, the hostages of your perversity, and letters to deceive those who will read them. The swift messengers go to the high and foreign people, and the most wicked.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, he describes the help which they promised to the two tribes. And first, he describes the manner of announcing, saying: they that, namely, the Egyptian people, sends ambassadors, that is, messengers, to the two tribes, in the sea, that is, through the sea, and upon the waters, of the river or the sea, in vessels of papyrus, a kind of rush, from which they made small boxe…
3 All ye inhabitants of the world, And ye dwellers of earth, At the lifting up of an ensign on hills ye look, And at the blowing of a trumpet ye hear.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 3) Therefore, all who dwell and live in the world, lift up their eyes to the sign of the heretics, which is raised as if on mountains, and they hear the sound of the trumpet, that is, their teaching.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 All you inhabitants of the world. Here he threatens the punishment, and concerning this, he does two things. First, he shows the manifestation of the punishment: you shall see, that is, it will be known to you, the sign, the flag of Nabuchodonosor: the nations have heard of your disgrace, and your howling has filled the land (Jer 46:12); or, you shall see the abundance of the e…
4 For thus said Jehovah unto me, `I rest, and I look on My settled place, As a clear heat on an herb. As a thick cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
Jerome · AD 420 (Vs. 4 and following) Because this is what the Lord says to me, I will rest and observe in my place: just as the bright midday light is, and like the clouds of dew in the day of harvest.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Second, he takes away their confidence in divine defense: for thus says the Lord. And first, because he takes away the help of his defense from them: I will take my rest, as though not helping you; and consider, I will see what you can do: I will consider what their last end shall be (Deut 32:20).
5 For before harvest, when the flower is perfect, And the blossom is producing unripe fruit, Then hath one cut the sprigs with pruning hooks, And the branches he hath turned aside, cut down.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 5, 6.) For before the harvest it had flowered entirely, and immature perfection had sprouted, and its small branches will be cut with sickles, and whatever has been left behind will be cut off and shaken off.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Third, where it says, before the harvest, he describes a metaphor of the punishment, namely through the destruction of fruit in the field, and he sets out three things.
6 They are left together to the ravenous fowl of the mountains, And to the beast of the earth, And summered on them hath the ravenous fowl, And every beast of the earth wintereth on them.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Third, he places the abandonment of the field itself: and they shall be left, like an uncultivated field, which signifies the slaughter of men, after there were many beasts in the land of Egypt: these things says the Lord God, say to every fowl, and to all the birds, and to all the beasts of the field: assemble yourselves, make haste, come together from every side to my victim,…
7 At that time brought is a present to Jehovah of Hosts, A nation drawn out and peeled. Even of a people fearful from the beginning hitherto, A nation meting out by line, and treading down, Whose land floods have spoiled, Unto the place of the name of Jehovah of Hosts--mount Zion!'
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 7) In that time the gift of the Lord of hosts will be brought by the scattered and torn people, by the terrifying people, after whom there was no other: by the waiting people, waiting and trampled, whose rivers they have plundered, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mountain of Zion.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 At that time. Here the fruit of the punishment is set out, namely, that the people of the two tribes shall trust in God and shall call on his help with offerings of presents, above: and it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and they that shall escape of the house of Jacob, shall lean no more upon him that strikes them: but they shall lean upon the Lord…