Isaiah 20

The Sign of the Naked Prophet

20Under the orders of Sargon, emperor of Assyria, the commander-in-chief of the Assyrian army attacked the Philistine city of Ashdod. ²Three years earlier the Lord had told Isaiah son of Amoz to take off his sandals and the sackcloth he was wearing. He obeyed and went about naked and barefoot. ³When Ashdod was captured, the Lord said, “My servant Isaiah has been going about naked and barefoot for three years. This is a sign of what will happen to Egypt and Ethiopia.^{i 4}The emperor of Assyria will lead away naked the prisoners he captures from those two countries. Young and old, they will walk barefoot and naked, with their buttocks exposed, bringing shame on Egypt. ⁵Those who have put their trust in Ethiopia^j and have boasted about Egypt will be disillusioned, their hopes shattered. ⁶When that time comes, the people who live along the coast of Philistia will say, ‘Look at what has happened to the people we relied on to protect us from the emperor of Assyria! How will we ever survive?’ ”