Persia, ¹  Ethiopia, and Put ²  are with them, all of them with shields and helmets.

They come with red cloth ¹  from Egypt, Ethiopia ²  voluntarily offers tribute ³  to God.

From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, ¹  those who pray to me ²  will bring me tribute.

Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the foreigners, ¹  Libya, and the people ²  of the covenant land ³  will die by the sword along with them.

¹ The following events happened ²  in the days of Ahasuerus. ³  (I am referring to ⁴  that Ahasuerus who used to rule over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces ⁵  extending all the way from India to Ethiopia. ⁶ )

The king ¹  heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him. ²  He again sent messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:

I mention Rahab ¹  and Babylon to my followers. ²  Here are ³  Philistia and Tyre, ⁴  along with Ethiopia. ⁵  It is said of them, “This one was born there.” ⁶ 

The king ¹  heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia ²  was marching out to fight him. ³  He again sent ⁴  messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:

A sword will come against Egypt and panic will overtake Ethiopia when the slain fall in Egypt and they carry away her wealth and dismantle her foundations.

For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, ¹  your deliverer. I have handed over Egypt as a ransom price, Ethiopia and Seba ²  in place of you.

I am against ¹  you and your waterways. I will turn the land of Egypt into an utter desolate ruin from Migdol ²  to Syene, ³  as far as the border with Ethiopia.

Go ahead and ¹  charge into battle, you horsemen! Drive furiously, you charioteers! Let the soldiers march out into battle, those from Ethiopia and Libya who carry shields, and those from Lydia ²  who are armed with the bow. ³ 

On that day messengers will go out from me in ships to frighten overly confident Ethiopia; panic will overtake them on the day of Egypt’s doom; ¹  for beware – it is coming!

This is what the Lord says: “The profit ¹  of Egypt and the revenue ²  of Ethiopia, along with the Sabeans, those tall men, will be brought to you ³  and become yours. They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. ⁴  They will bow down to you and pray to you: ⁵  ‘Truly God is with ⁶  you; he has no peer; ⁷  there is no other God!’”

The king’s scribes were quickly ¹  summoned – in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day. ²  They wrote out ³  everything that Mordecai instructed to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces all the way from India to Ethiopia ⁴  – a hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all – to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, and to the Jews according to their own script and their own language.

The land of buzzing wings is as good as dead, ¹  the one beyond the rivers of Cush,

The topaz of Cush ¹  cannot be compared with it; it cannot be purchased with pure gold.

Cush ¹  and Egypt had limitless strength; ²  Put and the Libyans ³  were among ⁴  her ⁵  allies. ⁶ 

Those who put their hope in Cush and took pride in Egypt will be afraid and embarrassed. ¹ 

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,