Isaiah 20

2 the LORD told Isaiah son of Amoz, "Take off all your clothes, including your sandals." Isaiah did as he was told and walked around naked and barefoot.

3 Then the LORD said, "My servant Isaiah has been walking around naked and barefoot for the last three years. This is a sign--a symbol of the terrible troubles I will bring upon Egypt and Ethiopia.*¹

4 For the king of Assyria will take away the Egyptians and Ethiopians* as prisoners. He will make them walk naked and barefoot, both young and old, their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.²

5 How dismayed will be the Philistines, who counted on the power of Ethiopia and boasted of their allies in Egypt!

6 They will say, `If this can happen to Egypt, what chance do we have? For we counted on Egypt to protect us from the king of Assyria.' "

Read Isaiah 21

1: Hebrew Cush; also in 20:5.

2: Hebrew Cushites.

^{New Living Translation Bible and Notes used with permission Tyndale House Publishers.}