Isaiah 20

1 In the year in which Tharthan entered into Ashdod, when Sargon, the king of the Assyrians, had sent him, and when he had fought against Ashdod and had captured it,

One year King Sargon of Assyria sent the chief commander of his army [to take his soldiers] to capture Ashdod [city in Philistia].

2 in that same time, the Lord spoke by the hand of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saying: “Go forth, and remove the sackcloth from your waist, and take your shoes from your feet.” And he did so, going out naked and barefoot.

At that time, Yahweh told me, “Take off the rough sackcloth that you have been wearing and take off your sandals.” [So] I did what he told me to do, and [then] I walked around naked and barefoot [for three years].

3 And the Lord said: Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot, as a sign and as a portent of three years over Egypt and over Ethiopia,

[Then] Yahweh said this [to the people of Judah]: “My servant Isaiah has been walking around naked and barefoot for the past three years. That is to show the terrible disasters that [I will cause the people of] Egypt and Ethiopia to experience.

4 so also will the king of the Assyrians force the captivity of Egypt, and the transmigration of Ethiopia: young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

What will happen is that the [army of the] King of Assyria will [invade those countries and capture many of the people and] take them away as their prisoners. They will force all them, including both the young ones and the old ones, to walk naked and barefoot. They will [also] force them to have no clothes around their buttocks, which will cause [the people of] Egypt to be ashamed.

5 And they will be afraid and confounded over Ethiopia, their hope, and Egypt, their glory.

Then the people of other countries who trusted that the armies of Egypt and Ethiopia would be able to help them will be very dismayed/confused and afraid/disappointed.

6 And in that day, the inhabitants of a certain island will say: “Behold, this was our hope, we fled to them for help, to free us from the face of the king of the Assyrians. And now, how will we be able to escape?”

They will say, ‘We trusted that the armies of Egypt and Ethiopia [would help us and defend us, but they have been destroyed], so there is no way [RHQ] that we can escape from [being destroyed by the army of] the King of Assyria!’”