Isaiah 20:6 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’"

NIV: In that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’ "

NASB: So the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Behold, such is our hope, where we fled for help to be saved from the king of Assyria; and how are we ourselves to escape?’?'

CSB: And the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Look, this is what has happened to those we relied on and fled to for help to rescue us from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape?’"

NLT: They will say, ‘If this can happen to Egypt, what chance do we have? We were counting on Egypt to protect us from the king of Assyria.’'

KJV: And 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?

NKJV: And the inhabitant of this territory will say in that day, ‘Surely such is our expectation, wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and how shall we escape?’ ”

Isaiah has looked forward in time to when the Assyrians will fully defeat Egypt. The people will be stripped and marched away into captivity (Isaiah 20:4). The point of this powerful image is to convince God's people in Judah to not put their trust in Egypt (Isaiah 20:5). Only the Lord Himself is worthy of such confidence.

The prophet turns to a response of the people who lived along the coastlands. These were the nations who were trusting in Egypt to provide them protection against the ravenous Assyrians. When they see the Egyptians stripped down and being marched away as prisoners of war, they will recognize that they have no other hope for escape. The ones they trusted are defeated. How can they hope to escape a similar fate?

The Lord does not want Judah to find themselves in the same position asking this same question. He wants them to know and believe that they can trust the Lord, and Him alone, to save them from their enemies. In the case of the Assyrians, the Lord did exactly that. When Jerusalem was besieged by Sennacherib and a massive army of Assyrians, the invading force was suddenly killed in the middle of the night by the angel of the Lord (Isaiah 37:33–38; 2 Kings 19:32–36).

Isaiah 20:1–6 describes a specific moment in history: 711 BC, when the Assyrian army crushed and took possession of the rebellious city of Ashdod. At the command of the Lord, Isaiah had been walking around without his outer garment or sandals to demonstrate how the Egyptians will look when they are also conquered by the Assyrians. Those counting on Egypt's protection will have nowhere to hide. Judah must trust the Lord to protect them and not any foreign nations.

The defeat of the Philistine city of Ashdod by the Assyrian king Sargon is the fulfillment of a strange sign. At the Lord's command, Isaiah spent three years regularly walking around barefoot and without his outer garment. This is to show what the Egyptian captives will look like once Assyria defeats them. Then all who boasted Egypt would protect them from Assyria will lose that confidence. The Lord wants Judah to trust Him to save them and not to look to other nations, or their gods.

Chapter 20 concludes Isaiah's oracle against Egypt, which began in chapter 19. This message includes a visual example of why Judah must not turn to Egypt for protection from the Assyrians. God tells Isaiah to walk around uncovered and barefoot for three years until the city of Ashdod is defeated by Assyria. Ashdod's alliance with Egypt did not save them. Eventually, Assyria will conquer Egypt and they also will be barefoot and exposed in their captivity. This will leave everyone counting on Egypt for protection without hope. Judah must place all their hope in the Lord to save them.

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).