Isaiah 18:1

The Lord Will Judge a Distant Land in the South

18:1 The land of buzzing wings is as good as dead, ¹ 

the one beyond the rivers of Cush,

Isaiah 20:3-4

20:3 Later the Lord explained, “In the same way that my servant Isaiah has walked around in undergarments and barefoot for the past three years, as an object lesson and omen pertaining to Egypt and Cush, 20:4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, both young and old. They will be in undergarments and barefoot, with the buttocks exposed; the Egyptians will be publicly humiliated. ² 

Isaiah 37:9

37:9 The king ³  heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia ⁴  was marching out to fight him. ⁵  He again sent ⁶  messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:

Isaiah 43:3

43:3 For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, ⁷  your deliverer.

I have handed over Egypt as a ransom price,

Ethiopia and Seba ⁸  in place of you.

Isaiah 45:14

The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope

45:14 This is what the Lord says:

“The profit ⁹  of Egypt and the revenue ¹⁰  of Ethiopia,

along with the Sabeans, those tall men,

will be brought to you ¹¹  and become yours.

They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. ¹² 

They will bow down to you

and pray to you: ¹³ 

‘Truly God is with ¹⁴  you; he has no peer; ¹⁵ 

there is no other God!’”

[18:1]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the land of buzzing wings.” On הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) see the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[20:4]  ² tn Heb “lightly dressed and barefoot, and bare with respect to the buttocks, the nakedness of Egypt.”

[37:9]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “Cush” (so NASB); NIV, NCV “the Cushite king of Egypt.”

[37:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, ‘He has come out to fight with you.’”

[37:9]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text has, “and he heard and he sent,” but the parallel in 2 Kgs 19:9 has וַיָּשָׁב וַיִּשְׁלַח (vayyashav vayyishlakh, “and he returned and he sent”), i.e., “he again sent.”

[43:3]  ⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[43:3]  ⁵ sn Seba is not the same as Sheba in southern Arabia; cf. Gen 1:10; 1 Chr 1:9.

[45:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “labor,” which stands metonymically for the fruits of labor, either “monetary profit,” or “products.”

[45:14]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “merchandise” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “the gain of Ethiopia”; CEV “the treasures of Ethiopia.”

[45:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “they will pass over to you”; NASB, NIV “will come over to you”; CEV “will belong to you.”

[45:14]  ⁸ sn Restored Israel is depicted here in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion as an imperial power that receives riches and slaves as tribute.

[45:14]  ⁹ sn Israel’s vassals are portrayed as so intimidated and awed that they treat Israel as an intermediary to God or sub-deity.

[45:14]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps, “among.” Cf. KJV, ASV “Surely God is in thee.”

[45:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “there is no other” (so NIV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs at the end of v. 18, in v. 21, and at the end of v. 22.