In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh.
In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships, to make the careless Ethiopians afraid - (Isaiah 18:1-2). The cataracts interposing between them and Egypt should not save them. Egyptians "fleeing from before me" in my execution of judgment, as "messengers" in 'skiffs' ("vessels of bulrushes," Isaiah 18:2) shall go up the Nile, as far as navigable, to announce the advance of the Chaldeans. In Isaiah 18:1-7 the messengers were to announce good news to the Ethiopians-namely, that God would overthrow Sennacherib the Assyrian king; but here the messengers are to announce terrors to the Ethiopians-namely, that the Chaldean army is advancing toward them.
Great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt. The day of Ethiopia's "pain" shall come shortly, as Egypt's day came.