Isaiah Chapter 20
Isaiah's three-year sign warns Judah against trusting Egypt and Ethiopia.
Set during Assyria's capture of Ashdod, the events of this chapter follow directly on the burden of Egypt in Isaiah 19, as the Lord commands Isaiah to walk naked and barefoot as a living sign.
In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it,
at that time Jehovah spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put thy shoe from off thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
And Jehovah said, Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia,
so shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
And they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia their confidence, and of Egypt their glory.
And the inhabitant of this coastland shall say in that day, Behold, such is our trust, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria. And we, how shall we escape?