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Isaiah 20 Bible study: A sign and a wonder
The same Hebrew words, "naked and barefoot", are said of Isaiah's walk and of the captives of Egypt and Ethiopia, joined by the LORD's As … so (20:3-4). And "where we fled for help" (20:6) is said with the verb and word of an earlier question in the book: "To whom will you flee for help?" (10:3).
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“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?’”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Isaiah 20, the words "naked and barefoot" are said both of Isaiah and of the captives the king of Assyria will lead away.”
Is that in Isaiah 20, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
As the prophet walked, so the captives
The same two words come in three verses in a row. The LORD tells Isaiah to loosen his sackcloth and take off his sandals, and "He did so, walking naked and barefoot" (20:2). Then the LORD says, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia" (20:3), "so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot" (20:4) (tap naked, barefoot). Here is what almost everyone misses: in Hebrew the words are the same all three times, arom veyachef, and the LORD joins the two with As and so. The chapter gives the sign its meaning itself, in the LORD's own words (20:3-4). It gives no word at all from Isaiah, only "He did so" (20:2), and these notes add nothing to what the verses say.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Isaiah 20
That was a taste
The rest of Isaiah 20 is waiting in Favor
- My servant, a sign and a wonder
- Where we fled for help
- Help from Egypt, in other chapters
- The year Tartan came to Ashdod
- 6 questions as you read
- 11 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Isaiah 20 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
מַבָּטmabbatsay mab-BAHT
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "expectation = object of hope or confidence". Strong's: "something expected, i.e. (abstractly) expectation", and it gives the word as "from 5027", the verb nabat, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "look". The Hebrew Bible has mabbat only three times, and two are here: "because of Ethiopia their expectation" (20:5), and "Behold, this is our expectation" (20:6). The third is in words about Ekron: "for her expectation will be disappointed" (Zechariah 9:5). There, as in 20:5, it stands beside the verb bosh, which the WEB gives here as confounded and there as disappointed. Isaiah has the verb nabat in "you looked in that day to the armor" (Isaiah 22:8) and "But you didn’t look to him who had done this" (Isaiah 22:11), and the chapter on Isaiah 18 studies it.
For your group
Isaiah 20 Bible study questions
- 1"He did so" (20:2): the chapter gives no word from Isaiah, only what he did. When has doing what you believed God asked of you been hard to explain to the people around you?
- 2"Behold, this is our expectation, where we fled for help" (20:6). What do people usually turn to first when trouble comes, before they turn to God?
- 3Chapter 10 asked, "To whom will you flee for help?" (10:3). If you answered that honestly for this week, what would you say?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Isaiah 20 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home