Bible Strands
Isaiah 20:3
Then the LORD said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks after commanding Isaiah to remove his sackcloth and sandals, following three years of Isaiah walking naked and barefoot in obedience.
The words — The Hebrew terms עָר֣וֹם (a.Rom) meaning naked and וְ/יָחֵ֑ף (ve./ya.Chef) meaning barefoot describe the specific physical condition Isaiah maintained during his prophetic sign.
The thread — This motif of prophetic acts as divine warnings connects to Isaiah 8:18, which frames Isaiah and his children as signs from the LORD, and echoes the year-for-day principle in Numbers 14:34.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to recognize that prolonged physical obedience functions as a concrete, non-verbal warning of imminent geopolitical judgment against Egypt and Cush.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And 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;
Cross-references
- Isaiah 8:18 Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me as signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD of Hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
- Numbers 14:34 In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.
- Isaiah 18:1 Woe to the land of whirring wings, along the rivers of Cush,
- Isaiah 37:9 Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “He has set out to fight against you.” On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
- Isaiah 43:3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.
- Ezekiel 4:5 For I have assigned to you 390 days, according to the number of years of their iniquity. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
- Revelation 11:2 But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.