Psalms 68:31

68:31 They come with red cloth ¹  from Egypt,

Ethiopia ²  voluntarily offers tribute ³  to God.

Psalms 87:4

87:4 I mention Rahab ⁴  and Babylon to my followers. ⁵ 

Here are ⁶  Philistia and Tyre, ⁷  along with Ethiopia. ⁸ 

It is said of them, “This one was born there.” ⁹ 

Isaiah 43:6

43:6 I will say to the north, ‘Hand them over!’

and to the south, ‘Don’t hold any back!’

Bring my sons from distant lands,

and my daughters from the remote regions of the earth,

Isaiah 45:14

The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope

45:14 This is what the Lord says:

“The profit ¹⁰  of Egypt and the revenue ¹¹  of Ethiopia,

along with the Sabeans, those tall men,

will be brought to you ¹²  and become yours.

They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. ¹³ 

They will bow down to you

and pray to you: ¹⁴ 

‘Truly God is with ¹⁵  you; he has no peer; ¹⁶ 

there is no other God!’”

Isaiah 60:3

60:3 Nations come to your light,

kings to your bright light.

Isaiah 60:6

60:6 Camel caravans will cover your roads, ¹⁷ 

young camels from Midian and Ephah.

All the merchants of Sheba ¹⁸  will come,

bringing gold and incense

and singing praises to the Lord. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 66:19

66:19 I will perform a mighty act among them ²⁰  and then send some of those who remain to the nations – to Tarshish, Pul, ²¹  Lud ²²  (known for its archers ²³ ), Tubal, Javan, ²⁴  and to the distant coastlands ²⁵  that have not heard about me or seen my splendor. They will tell the nations of my splendor.

Jeremiah 13:23

13:23 But there is little hope for you ever doing good,

you who are so accustomed to doing evil.

Can an Ethiopian ²⁶  change the color of his skin?

Can a leopard remove its spots? ²⁷ 

Jeremiah 38:7

An Ethiopian Official Rescues Jeremiah from the Cistern

38:7 An Ethiopian, Ebed Melech, ²⁸  a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put ²⁹  in the cistern. While the king was holding court ³⁰  at the Benjamin Gate,

Jeremiah 39:16

39:16 “Go ³¹  and tell Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, ‘The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, “I will carry out against this city what I promised. It will mean disaster and not good fortune for it. ³²  When that disaster happens, you will be there to see it. ³³ 

Zephaniah 3:10

3:10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, ³⁴ 

those who pray to me ³⁵  will bring me tribute.

[68:31]  ¹ tn This noun, which occurs only here in the OT, apparently means “red cloth” or “bronze articles” (see HALOT 362 s.v. חַשְׁמַן; cf. NEB “tribute”). Traditionally the word has been taken to refer to “nobles” (see BDB 365 s.v. חַשְׁמַן; cf. NIV “envoys”). Another option would be to emend the text to הַשְׁמַנִּים (hashmannim, “the robust ones,” i.e., leaders).

[68:31]  ² tn Heb “Cush.”

[68:31]  ³ tn Heb “causes its hands to run,” which must mean “quickly stretches out its hands” (to present tribute).

[87:4]  ⁴ sn “Rahab,” which means “proud one,” is used here as a title for Egypt (see Isa 30:7).

[87:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “to those who know me” (see Ps 36:10). Apparently the Lord speaks here. The verbal construction (the Hiphil of זָכַר, zakhar, “remember” followed by the preposition -לְ [le] with a substantive) is rare, but the prepositional phrase is best understood as indicating the recipient of the announcement (see Jer 4:16). Some take the preposition in the sense of “among” and translate, “among those who know me” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). In this case these foreigners are viewed as the Lord’s people and the psalm is interpreted as anticipating a time when all nations will worship the Lord (see Ps 86:9) and be considered citizens of Zion.

[87:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “Look.”

[87:4]  ⁷ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[87:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “Cush.”

[87:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “and this one was born there.” The words “It is said of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarification and stylistic purposes (see v. 5). Those advocating the universalistic interpretation understand “there” as referring to Zion, but it seems more likely that the adverb refers to the nations just mentioned. The foreigners are identified by their native lands.

[45:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “labor,” which stands metonymically for the fruits of labor, either “monetary profit,” or “products.”

[45:14]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “merchandise” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “the gain of Ethiopia”; CEV “the treasures of Ethiopia.”

[45:14]  ¹² tn Heb “they will pass over to you”; NASB, NIV “will come over to you”; CEV “will belong to you.”

[45:14]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Or perhaps, “among.” Cf. KJV, ASV “Surely God is in thee.”

[45:14]  ¹⁶ 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.

[60:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “an abundance of camels will cover you.”

[60:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all of them, from Sheba.”

[60:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and they will announce the praises of the Lord.”

[66:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and I will set a sign among them.” The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Elsewhere “to set a sign” means “perform a mighty act” (Ps 78:43; Jer 32:20), “make [someone] an object lesson” (Ezek 14:8), and “erect a [literal] standard” (Ps 74:4).

[66:19]  ²¹ tn Some prefer to read “Put” (i.e., Libya).

[66:19]  ²² sn That is, Lydia (in Asia Minor).

[66:19]  ²³ tn Heb “drawers of the bow” (KJV and ASV both similar).

[66:19]  ²⁴ sn Javan is generally identified today as Greece (so NIV, NCV, NLT).

[66:19]  ²⁵ tn Or “islands” (NIV).

[13:23]  ²⁶ tn This is a common proverb in English coming from this biblical passage. For cultures where it is not proverbial perhaps it would be better to translate “Can black people change the color of their skin?” Strictly speaking these are “Cushites” inhabitants of a region along the upper Nile south of Egypt. The Greek text is responsible for the identification with Ethiopia. The term in Greek is actually a epithet = “burnt face.”

[13:23]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? [Then] you also will be able to do good who are accustomed to do evil.” The English sentence has been restructured and rephrased in an attempt to produce some of the same rhetorical force the Hebrew original has in this context.

[38:7]  ²⁸ sn This individual, Ebed Melech, is mentioned only here. Later he will be promised deliverance from destruction when the city falls because he had shown trust in God (see Jer 39:16-18).

[38:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Ebed Melech, the Cushite, a man, an eunuch/official, and he was [= who was; a circumstantial clause] in the house of the king, heard that they had put Jeremiah…” The passive construction “Jeremiah had been put” has been used to avoid the indefinite subject “they” or the addition of “the officials.” For the translation of סָרִיס (saris) as “official” here rather than “eunuch” see the translator’s note on 29:2 and see also the usage in 34:19. For the translation of “Cushite” as Ethiopian see the study note on 13:23.

[38:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “And the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate.” This clause is circumstantial to the following clause; thus “while the king was…” Most commentators agree that the reference to sitting in the gate here likely refers to the same kind of judicial context that has been posited for 26:10 (see the translator’s note there for further references). Hence the translation uses “sitting” with the more technical “holding court” to better reflect the probable situation.

[39:16]  ³¹ sn Even though Jeremiah was confined to the courtyard of the guardhouse, he was still free to entertain visitors (32:2, 8). Moreover, Ebed-Melech was an official attached to the royal court and would have had access to the courtyard of the guardhouse (38:7, 13). Jeremiah would not have had to leave the courtyard of the guardhouse to “go and tell” him something.

[39:16]  ³² tn Heb “Behold, I will bring to pass my words against this city for evil/disaster and not for good/good fortune.” For the form of the verb מֵבִי ([mevi] Kethib, מֵבִיא [mevi’] Qere) see GKC 206-7 §74.k, where the same form is noted for the Kethib in 2 Sam 5:2; 1 Kgs 21:21; Jer 19:15 all of which occur before a word beginning with א. For the nuance “carry out” (or “bring to pass”) see BDB 99 s.v. בּוֹא Hiph.2.b.

[39:16]  ³³ tn Heb “And they [= my words for disaster] will come to pass [= happen] before you on that day [i.e., the day that I bring them to pass/carry them out].”

[3:10]  ³⁴ tn Or “Nubia”; Heb “Cush.” “Cush” is traditionally assumed to refer to the region south of Egypt, i.e. Nubia or northern Sudan, referred to as “Ethiopia” by classical authors (not the more recent Abyssinia).

[3:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “those who pray to me, the daughter of my dispersed ones.” The meaning of the phrase is unclear. Perhaps the text is corrupt at this point or a proper name should be understood. For a discussion of various options see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 134-35.