20 In the year before the Assyrian King Sargon sent his top army commander to Ashdod, and he attacked and captured it, 2 Yahweh told Yeshayah (Isaiah, Amots’ son), “Take off the sackcloth and the sandals that you’ve been wearing.” So he started walking around naked[fn] and barefoot. 3 Later Yahweh said, “Just as my servant Yeshayah has been walking around naked and barefoot for three years, it’s a sign and a prophecy about Egypt (Heb. Mitsrayim) and Ethiopia (Heb. Kush). 4 It’s a sign that the Assyrian king will lead away captives from Egypt and Ethiopia—young men and old, barefoot and naked with their buttocks exposed—to Egypt’s shame. 5 They’ll be discouraged and ashamed because of their unfounded confidence in Ethiopia and their boasting about Egypt. 6 Those who live along those coastlines will say, “Listen, we fled there for help because that was our hope to be saved from the Assyrian king—how can we escape now?”