Isaiah 18

Envoys in Papyrus Boats

A distant nation sends messengers to form an alliance, and the Lord answers by quietly watching, then promises that people will bring gifts to Zion.

c. 714–701 BC, when Egypt’s Cushite pharaohs sought allies against Assyria Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Isaiah 18 is short and full of puzzling images, but its historical setting is fairly clear.

Isaiah 18 is short and full of puzzling images, but its historical setting is fairly clear. In Isaiah’s day, Egypt was ruled by a dynasty of pharaohs from Cush (ancient Ethiopia, modern Sudan), the kingdom “beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.” These Cushite kings of the 25th Dynasty were ambitious, and they sent envoys up and down the Nile and across the region to organize resistance to Assyria. Judah was one of the kingdoms they courted. One of them, Tirhakah, would later march against Sennacherib (Isa. 37:9).

So picture Cushite ambassadors arriving in Jerusalem in their light papyrus boats, proposing an alliance. Isaiah’s oracle is the Lord’s answer to them, and to Judah.

This chapter has also received some creative interpretations among Latter-day Saints over the years, and the notes discuss those carefully.

The thread through the chapter

Isaiah 18 contrasts frantic human diplomacy with the Lord’s calm. The first two verses are full of motion.

Isaiah 18 contrasts frantic human diplomacy with the Lord’s calm.

The first two verses are full of motion. Wings whir, boats skim the Nile, “swift messengers” hurry off to a tall and impressive nation. Everyone is rushing to build alliances against Assyria.

Then, in verse 4, everything slows down. The Lord says: “I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place.” He is not panicking. He is like the shimmering heat of midday or a cloud of dew in harvest season: quiet, steady, and present. He is watching, and He will act at exactly the right moment. Just before harvest, when the grapes are forming, He will prune away the enemy’s branches (verses 5–6). In other words, Assyria will be cut off by the Lord’s timing, not by Cush’s coalition.

The chapter ends with a reversal (verse 7). The same impressive, distant people who sent envoys to recruit Judah will one day send gifts “to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.” Instead of drawing Judah into their alliance, they will be drawn into the Lord’s house.

The lesson is one Isaiah repeats constantly: “In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Isa. 30:15). The Lord often acts from stillness.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–2

The envoys of Cush

In plain words

Woe to the land of whirring wings beyond the rivers of Cush, which sends ambassadors by sea in papyrus boats on the water! Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned, a people feared far and wide, a powerful nation that tramples others, whose land is divided by rivers.

1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

History & Setting #

The land beyond the rivers of Cush

The Hebrew phrase is obscure. It may mean “land of whirring wings,” perhaps referring to the swarms of insects along the upper Nile, or to the sails of boats, or to the protective…

The Hebrew phrase is obscure. It may mean “land of whirring wings,” perhaps referring to the swarms of insects along the upper Nile, or to the sails of boats, or to the protective “wings” of a powerful kingdom. The KJV’s “shadowing with wings” follows one possible reading. “Woe” (hoy) can also be read as a call for attention, “Ho!” or “Ah!”

“Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia” points to Cush, the Nile kingdom south of Egypt, whose kings ruled Egypt as the 25th Dynasty from roughly 715 to 664 BC.

Sources: “Ethiopia or Cush”, Bible Dictionary.

Restoration Insight #

A land shaped like wings?

Some Latter-day Saint writers in the past suggested that “the land shadowing with wings” refers to the Americas, noting that the outline of North and South America resembles two…

Some Latter-day Saint writers in the past suggested that “the land shadowing with wings” refers to the Americas, noting that the outline of North and South America resembles two outstretched wings, and connecting it to the ensign in verse 3. The idea has been repeated in some older books and firesides.

It is an imaginative reading, but it is not supported by revelation or by Church curriculum, and the chapter’s own details (Cush, the Nile, papyrus boats) point clearly to Isaiah’s African neighbors. It’s a good example of the caution Isaiah requires. We should “liken” the scriptures to ourselves (1 Ne. 19:23), but likening is not the same as decoding every image into a modern map. The safest ground is what scripture and prophets have plainly taught.

Sources: Bruce R. McConkie, “Ten Keys to Understanding Isaiah”, Ensign, Oct. 1973.

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!

Word & Language #

Tall and smooth

The KJV’s “scattered and peeled” sounds like a description of a suffering people, and some readers have applied it to scattered Israel.

The KJV’s “scattered and peeled” sounds like a description of a suffering people, and some readers have applied it to scattered Israel. But the Hebrew words (memushshak umorat) more likely mean “tall and smooth” (smooth-skinned, or clean-shaven). The ancient Greek historian Herodotus described the Ethiopians as the tallest and most handsome of men. “Terrible from their beginning hitherto” means feared far and wide, and “meted out and trodden down” probably means mighty and conquering.

Isaiah is describing an impressive, intimidating people. That makes verse 7 all the more striking: even this proud nation will bring gifts to Zion.

Sources: John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998. Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah, Anchor Bible, 3 vols. New York: Doubleday, 2000–2003.

Verses 3–6

The Lord watches, then prunes

In plain words

Everyone in the world, all who live on earth, watch when a banner is raised on the mountains, and listen when the trumpet sounds! For the Lord told me: “I will stay quiet and watch from My dwelling, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” Before the harvest, when the blossom is over and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives and chop down the spreading branches. They will all be left for the birds of the mountains and the wild animals. The birds will feed on them all summer and the animals all winter.

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.

Liken It #

The stillness of God

After the frantic motion of verses 1–2, the Lord is utterly calm. He isn’t idle; He is watching, “considering,” like the steady shimmering heat of midday or the silent dew that…

After the frantic motion of verses 1–2, the Lord is utterly calm. He isn’t idle; He is watching, “considering,” like the steady shimmering heat of midday or the silent dew that forms at harvest time. He knows exactly when to act.

This is one of Isaiah’s great themes: “In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Isa. 30:15). The Lord’s counsel to the Saints in Missouri was similar: “Be still and know that I am God” (D&C 101:16; Ps. 46:10). When everyone around us is rushing to make alliances and plans, the Lord invites us to be still and trust His timing.

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.

Verse 7

Gifts brought to Zion

In plain words

At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord of hosts from this tall, smooth-skinned people, feared far and wide, a powerful nation that tramples others, whose land is divided by rivers. They will bring them to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of hosts.

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.

Restoration Insight #

Ethiopia brings gifts to Zion

The chapter ends with a beautiful reversal. The tall, powerful nation that sent envoys to recruit Judah will one day send gifts to “the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the…

The chapter ends with a beautiful reversal. The tall, powerful nation that sent envoys to recruit Judah will one day send gifts to “the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.” That echoes the promise of Isa. 2:2–3, that all nations will flow to the Lord’s house, and it anticipates Ps. 68:31: “Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.”

The New Testament records a lovely first fruit of this promise. An Ethiopian official, treasurer to the queen of Ethiopia, traveled to Jerusalem to worship. On the way home he was reading Isaiah 53 in his chariot when Philip met him, taught him of Jesus, and baptized him (Acts 8:26–39). In our own day, the gospel has spread widely across Africa, where some of the Church’s fastest growth is taking place.

Seeing Christ in Isaiah 18

The Lord in Isaiah 18 is calm, watchful, and perfectly timed, a picture of the One who told His anxious disciples, “Peace I leave with you… Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

The chapter’s last verse is fulfilled in part through Christ. The Ethiopian official who came to Zion with his offering of worship found Jesus through Isaiah’s own words about the Suffering Servant (Acts 8:32–35). Every nation that brings its gifts to Mount Zion is ultimately bringing them to Him.

Liken it to yourself

When I face a threat, do I respond like the envoys, with frantic activity and alliances, or like the Lord in verse 4, with watchful stillness? What would “take my rest” look like this week?
Is there something in my life the Lord may be “pruning” just before harvest, so that my strength goes into better fruit?
Who in my life seems too impressive or too distant to ever come to Zion? Can I believe verse 7 about them?

Worth exploring next

Stillness. Compare Isa. 18:4, Isa. 30:15, Ps. 46:10, and D&C 101:16.
The Ethiopian treasurer. Read Acts 8:26–40 with Isaiah 18:7 and Isa. 56:3–5 in mind. Why is it fitting that he was reading Isaiah?
Cush in Isaiah. Trace Cush/Ethiopia through Isa. 11:11, Isa. 20:3–5, Isa. 37:9, Isa. 43:3, and Isa. 45:14.

Sources & further reading

“Ethiopia or Cush”, Bible Dictionary.
“Egypt”, Bible Dictionary.
Chapter 14: A Voice of Warning to the Wicked (Isaiah 13–23), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998.

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