I appreciate your research on Isaiah 18, and agree that it is talking about America. This is a copy of my post to Five Doves back in 2008. You seem to have come to some of the same conclusions about this chapter. ................................................................................................................... ( Five Doves June 2008 ) For some time, I have contemplated Isaiah 18. In January of this year, I memorized the entire chapter. I recite it daily. I believe it is without a doubt , a picture of America, and her last days. In 1992 I lived in southern Spain. At the time, the most popular TV program in the entire world, was Bay Watch, with David Hasselhoff. It was seen by over 900 million people around the world every week. A bunch of tall , bronzed and blond,  nearly naked people running around on the beach, became the symbol of America to most of the world. This is the nation " scattered and peeled" which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia ( an expression meaning far , far , away ) . That sends ambassadors by the sea, ( Condoleeza Rice, Jimmy Carter, Kissinger , Colin Powell, ...etc...etc)    Whose land the rivers have spoiled . ( A land circuited by rivers, the mighty Mississippi, the Colorado, the Tennessee, Ohio,....etc, our eariy interstate highways ) A land shadowing with wings ( the U.S. is the  most heavily air trafficked natiion in the world, also a possible reference to the planes used in the 911 attack ). A nation meted out and trodden under foot. ( No one has more automobiles or paved roads,  than America). Now the tables are turned. It is America that is going to get a message. The message is this: v3, "All ye inhabitants of the World and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign ( I believe this is the Israeli flag lifted in the Golan Heights when fierce fighting erupts) and when he bloweth a trumpet,  ( my opinion: THE RAPTURE BLAST ) hear ye" v.4 " for so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest " ( could the evil one be mocking this word from the Lord through Obama, when he says that on the 73rd day he will rest? ) and I will consider in my dwelling place, like a clear heat upon herbs, and a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest ". ( I picture mushroom clouds over America when I read this verse ) July 11, 2009, is HOT summer time in the US.      v.5 " For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect".  This is a very,  very,  precise reference to an exact moment in time. Make no mistake, if you can understand this verse, you are wise indeed. " and the sour grape is ripening in the flower" . Sounds to me like the words of the LORD OF THE HARVEST, examining very carefully the fruit, to determine the exact moment for the harvest. " he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. "  Somebody is going to get a very close haircut !!! v. 6  They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains and the the beasts of the earth" . At this point , Gods people are gone, America lies in ruins. The vultures decend, the beasts move in for the carnage." And the fowls shall summer upon them ", ( it will be summer) " and the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them", v. 7   "In that time shall the present be brought unto the Lord of Hosts," ( my belief is that the post rapture saints, who live in the burned out land that was once America, will somehow get hold of all the gold and silver stored at Fort Knox. They will secretly load it onto planes or ships, and deliver it to Israel, where it will be used in the construction of the third Temple. ) ...............to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion" please consider this dear ones, and be alert!!!   joe chappell .