Though Cushites were to be found in Arabia, the name Cush as used in the Bible in most cases clearly refers to a region in Africa, and where the relationship is obvious, translators simply render “Cush” as “Ethiopia.” It is regularly associated with Egypt (Isa 20:3-5; 43:3; Jer 46:7-9) and also with Libya. (2Ch 12:2, 3; Da 11:43; Na 3:9) Isaiah 11:11 presents the ancient geographic designations for the regional divisions running southward from the Nile Delta: “Egypt” (or “Mizraim,” here, Lower Egypt), “Pathros” (Upper Egypt), and “Cush” (Nubia-Ethiopia). Ezekiel 29:10 speaks of the devastation of Egypt “from Migdol to Syene and to the boundary of Ethiopia [Cush].” Thus, Cush or ancient Ethiopia appears to have been beyond Syene (modern Aswan) and, according to archaeological evidence, continued S perhaps as far as modern Khartoum. Cush thus embraced the present Sudan and the southernmost part of modern Egypt. “The rivers of Ethiopia [Cush]” are suggested to have been the Blue and White Nile rivers, which have their junction at Khartoum, and also the Atbara River, which joins the Nile S of the fifth cataract.​—Zep 3:10.

“The Arabs that were by the side of the Ethiopians [Ku·shimʹ]” (2Ch 21:16) possibly were those Arab tribes occupying the SW coast of the Arabian Peninsula and thus facing Africa across the Red Sea.

Much of the land of Cush was evidently arid desert country. “The region of the rivers of Ethiopia” is described as “the land of the whirring insects with wings” (Isa 18:1), perhaps referring to the locusts that swarm in Ethiopia and Egypt; however, some suggest the mosquitoes, and others point out that the Hebrew word for “whirring” (tsela·tsalʹ) resembles in sound the name given to the tsetse fly (tsaltsalya) by the Oromo tribes (a Hamitic people living in modern Ethiopia). Ivory, ebony, gold, precious stones, iron, and aromatics were products of the land, and Biblical mention is made of “the merchants of Ethiopia” (Isa 45:14) and “the topaz of Cush.”​—Job 28:19.

Later History. Cush, or Ethiopia, had come under Egyptian domination by about the time of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, and it continued thus for some 500 years. A viceroy administering this domain under the Egyptian Pharaoh was known by the title “King’s Son of Kush.” Evidently toward the close of the second millennium B.C.E., Ethiopia freed itself from Egypt’s control. The Ethiopian capital was thereafter located first at Napata, near the fourth cataract, and later at Meroë, about 210 km (130 mi) NNE of Khartoum.

Ethiopian warriors formed part of Pharaoh Shishak’s forces that attacked Judah in the fifth year of Rehoboam (993 B.C.E.). (2Ch 12:2, 3) Following King Asa’s tenth year, or about 967 B.C.E., the Ethiopian Zerah marched against Judah with a million men but suffered complete defeat at Mareshah.​—2Ch 14:1, 9-15; 16:8.

Secular history shows that in the latter part of the eighth century B.C.E. Ethiopia conquered Egypt and dominated it for some 60 years. This was during the “Twenty-fifth (Ethiopian) Dynasty,” which included among its rulers King Taharqa, called Tirhakah in the Bible. This king came up against the forces of Sennacherib during their invasion of Judah (732 B.C.E.) but, according to the Assyrian inscriptions, was defeated at Elteke(h).​—2Ki 19:9; Isa 37:8, 9.

Assyrian Emperors Esar-haddon and Ashurbanipal invaded Egypt during their respective reigns, and the destruction of Thebes in Upper Egypt (called No-amon at Na 3:8-10) by Ashurbanipal (c. 684 B.C.E.) completely subjugated Egypt and also ended Ethiopian dominance of the Nile valley. This fulfilled the prophecy uttered about a half century earlier by the prophet Isaiah.​—Isa 20:3-6.

At the battle of Carchemish in 625 B.C.E., Ethiopian forces formed part of Pharaoh Necho’s army, which suffered defeat there at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. (Jer 46:2, 9) Nebuchadnezzar’s later invasion of Egypt (possibly 588 B.C.E.) would cause “severe pains” in Cush and “drive self-confident Ethiopia [Cush] into trembling.”​—Eze 29:19; 30:4-9.

Persian King Cambyses II (529-522 B.C.E.) conquered Egypt during the days of Pharaoh Psamtik III, and this opened the way for bringing Ethiopia under Persian control; thus, Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) could be spoken of as ruling “from India to Ethiopia [Cush].” (Es 1:1; 8:9) Confirming this, Xerxes states in an inscription: “These are the countries​—in addition to Persia—​over which I am king . . . India . . . (and) Kush.”​—Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p. 316.

Judean exiles were foretold to return to their homeland from faraway lands, including Cush. (Isa 11:11, 12; compare Zep 3:10.) In Daniel’s prophecy of “the time of the end,” the aggressive “king of the north” is described as having Ethiopia and Libya “at his steps,” that is, responsive to his direction. (Da 11:40-43) Ethiopia (Cush) also has a place in the wicked battle forces of “Gog of the land of Magog” in his stormlike assault upon Jehovah’s regathered ones “in the final part of the years.” (Eze 38:2-5, 8) Yet the psalmist favorably foretells that Cush will be counted among those bringing gifts to God.​—Ps 68:29-32.

Basically, however, “Cushite” refers to Africans residing in the region anciently called Ethiopia. In addition to “Zerah the Ethiopian [Cushite]” and “Tirhakah the king of Ethiopia” (2Ch 14:9; 2Ki 19:9), other Cushites mentioned in the Bible are Ebed-melech (Jer 38:7-12; 39:16-18), the Ethiopian eunuch who became a convert to Christianity, and the queen he served, Candace. (Ac 8:26, 27) General Joab selected an unnamed Cushite runner (called Cushi in KJ) rather than an Israelite to deliver the news to David of his son Absalom’s defeat and death.​—2Sa 18:19-32; see CUSH No. 2.