Isaiah 20
Lexham English Bible
A Sign regarding Egypt and Cush
20 In the year the commander-in-chief came[a] to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and he took it, 2 at that time, Yahweh had spoken by the hand of Isaiah son of Amoz, saying,
“Go and loosen the sackcloth from your loins,
and take off your sandals[b] from your feet,”
and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot.
3 Then[c] Yahweh said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush, 4 so shall the king of Assyria lead the captives[d] of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks,[e] the shame of Egypt.
5 And they shall be dismayed,
and they shall be ashamed
because of Cush, their hope,
and because of Egypt, their pride.
6 And the inhabitant[f] of the coastland will say this on that day:
‘Look! This is our hope to whom we fled for help, to be delivered from[g] the king of Assyria, and how shall we escape?’”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 20:1 Literally “of the coming of the commander in chief”
- Isaiah 20:2 Hebrew “sandal”
- Isaiah 20:3 Or “And”
- Isaiah 20:4 Hebrew “captive”
- Isaiah 20:4 Literally “and bare of buttocks”
- Isaiah 20:6 Hebrew “inhabitant”
- Isaiah 20:6 Literally “from the face of”
Isaiah 20
New English Translation
20 The Lord revealed the following message during the year in which King Sargon of Assyria sent his commanding general to Ashdod, and he fought against it and captured it.[a] 2 At that time the Lord announced through[b] Isaiah son of Amoz: “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet.” He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments[c] and barefoot. 3 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, 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, both young and old. They will be in undergarments and barefoot, with the buttocks exposed; the Egyptians will be publicly humiliated.[d] 5 Those who put their hope in Cush and took pride in Egypt will be afraid and embarrassed.[e] 6 At that time[f] those who live on this coast[g] will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 20:1 tn Heb “In the year the commanding general came to Ashdod, when Sargon king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and captured it.”sn This probably refers to the Assyrian campaign against Philistia in 712 or 711 b.c.
- Isaiah 20:2 tn Heb “spoke by the hand of.”
- Isaiah 20:2 tn The word used here (עָרוֹם, ʿarom) sometimes means “naked,” but here it appears to mean simply “lightly dressed,” i.e., stripped to one’s undergarments. See HALOT 883 s.v. עָרוֹם. The term also occurs in vv. 3, 4.
- Isaiah 20:4 tn Heb “lightly dressed and barefoot, and bare with respect to the buttocks, the nakedness of Egypt.”
- Isaiah 20:5 tn Heb “and they will be afraid and embarrassed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their beauty.”
- Isaiah 20:6 tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).
- Isaiah 20:6 sn This probably refers to the coastal region of Philistia (cf. TEV).
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