Bible Strands
Isaiah 20:5
Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses Judah immediately after describing the Assyrian deportation of Egyptian and Cushite captives. He confronts a nation that trusted foreign military alliances for protection against Assyria.
The words — חַתּוּ (cha.Tu) translates as “they will be dismayed,” and בֹשׁוּ (Vo.shu) means “they will be ashamed.” These verbs describe the sudden reversal of those who treated Cush and Egypt as sources of security.
The thread — The collapse of Egyptian refuge recurs in Isaiah 30:3 and Isaiah 30:5, where reliance on Egypt yields only shame and uselessness. 2 Kings 18:21 parallels this by calling Egypt a splintered reed that pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it.
Why it lands — The text demands readers abandon political alliances as substitutes for divine protection. It requires a clear-eyed assessment of human power that fails to deliver when judgment arrives.
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 they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.
- Isaiah 30:5 everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them. They bring neither help nor benefit, but only shame and disgrace.”
- 2 Kings 18:21 Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
- Jeremiah 9:23 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.
- Jeremiah 17:5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes mere flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
- Ezekiel 29:6 Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the LORD. For you were only a staff of reeds to the house of Israel.
- 1 Corinthians 3:21 Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours,
- Isaiah 2:22 Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
- Isaiah 30:7 Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.
- Isaiah 36:6 Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.