Isaiah
Chapter 20
Assyria's chief commander captures the Philistine city of Ashdod. Around that time God tells Isaiah to take off his rough clothing and his sandals and walk stripped and barefoot for three years. This acts out what is coming: Assyria will march the people of Egypt and Cush away as prisoners, stripped and barefoot. People who had been counting on Egypt and Cush for protection will be left with no one to run to.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;
1This happened in the year that the Assyrian army's chief commander came to the city of Ashdod. King Sargon of Assyria had sent him. He attacked Ashdod and captured it.
2At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
2Around that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said, "Go, take the rough sackcloth off your waist, and take the sandals off your feet." Isaiah did it, and he walked around stripped and barefoot.
Sackcloth was a rough, scratchy cloth people wore when they were mourning or grieving. "Naked" here can mean fully bare or stripped down to an undergarment; the text does not say which.
3And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;
3Then the LORD said, "My servant Isaiah has walked stripped and barefoot for three years. He is a sign and a warning about Egypt and Cush.
Cush was a kingdom south of Egypt, in the area of today's Sudan. The KJV calls it Ethiopia, but it is not the modern country of that name.
4So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
4In the same way, the king of Assyria will march the Egyptians and the people of Cush away as prisoners. Young and old alike will go stripped and barefoot, with their backsides bare. Egypt will be put to shame.
5And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
5People who had been counting on Cush and bragging about Egypt will be frightened and ashamed.
6And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?
6On that day the people living along this coast will say, "Look what happened to the ones we counted on. We ran to them for help so we would be safe from the king of Assyria. Now how can we escape?"
The KJV word "isle" means a coastland or seacoast, not an island. It points to the strip of land along the Mediterranean where Judah and the Philistine cities sat.
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