1 In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it;
2 at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your shoes from off your feet." He did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3 The Lord said, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia,
4 so the king of Assyria will 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.
5 They will be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
6 The inhabitants of this coast land will say in that day, 'Behold, this is our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria. And we, how will we escape?'"
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Today's Verse
But if they be prophets, and if the word of Jehovah be with them, let them now make intercession to Jehovah of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.
Verse Of The DayIsaiah's three years of walking stripped and barefoot foreshadow how Assyria will lead Egypt and Ethiopia away captive in the same shameful state, a campaign whose commander Tartan appears again in 2 Kings 18:17; the watchman's vigil over Babylon opens in Isaiah 21.
