Isaiah 18:2 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 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!

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Role in This Section

The oracle concerning Zion and the nations states or reports “That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift…” at Isaiah 18:2 as a specific part of “Cush's Envoys Hear of a Harvest Cut and a Gift to Zion.”

Read It With

Isaiah 18:1–7

Read Isaiah 18:2 with 18:1–7. By itself, “That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift…” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, historical horizon, poetic movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: Swift messengers, a global signal, divine stillness, pruned shoots, exposed carrion, and a future gift from a formidable people form an enigmatic oracle about Cush.

Continue in Context

Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.

Read Isaiah 18:1–7 — Cush's Envoys Hear of a Harvest Cut and a Gift to Zion

Sources used for this context pointer

How certain is this explanation? strong

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.

Exact location: Isaiah 18:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 18:1–7 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked

Open the fixed Hebrew Isaiah file ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record