Isaiah 20:3-5

3 Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush,^[a]

4 so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame.

5 Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be dismayed and put to shame.

Isaiah 20:3-5 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 20

This chapter contains a prophecy of the destruction of the Egyptians and Ethiopians by the Assyrians, which had been prophesied of separately in the two preceding chapters Isa 18:1-19:25, and now conjunctly in this: the time of it is given, Isa 20:1 the sign of it, the prophet's walking naked, and barefoot, Isa 20:2 the explanation and accommodation of the sign to the captivity of Egypt and Ethiopia, Isa 20:3,4 the use of this to the Jews, and the effect it had upon them; shame for their trust and dependence on the above nations, and despair of deliverance from the Assyrians by their means, Isa 20:5,6.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 22:20; Isaiah 41:8-9; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 49:3,5-7; Isaiah 50:10; Isaiah 52:13; Isaiah 53:11; Jeremiah 7:25; Haggai 2:23; Zechariah 4:14
• 2. S Isaiah 16:14
• 3. S Exodus 3:12; S Isaiah 8:18; Isaiah 37:30; Isaiah 38:7; Acts 21:11
• 4. S Deuteronomy 28:46
• 5. S Isaiah 19:1
• 6. ver 5; S Genesis 10:6; Isaiah 37:9; Isaiah 43:3
• 7. S Isaiah 19:4
• 8. S Job 12:17
• 9. Jeremiah 46:19; Nahum 3:10
• 10. Isaiah 18:1; Zephaniah 2:12
• 11. S Isaiah 3:24
• 12. Isaiah 47:3; Jeremiah 13:22,26; Nahum 3:5
• 13. S Isaiah 8:12
• 14. S ver 3
• 15. S 2 Kings 18:21; S Isaiah 30:5
• 16. Ezekiel 29:16

Footnotes

• [a]. That is, the upper Nile region; also in verse 5