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Isaiah 20 · a question people ask

Was Isaiah naked for the whole three years?

In the text

The chapter says what he was told and what he did, and no more. The LORD said, "Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your sandals from off your feet" (20:2), and "He did so, walking naked and barefoot" (20:2). Then the LORD says Isaiah "has walked naked and barefoot three years" (20:3). The chapter doesn't say whether he went so every day of the three years or at set times, and it doesn't say what, if anything, he still wore. Strong's gives arom, naked, as "nude, either partially or totally naked", and the chapter doesn't say which (tap naked). These notes don't settle it. What the chapter does say is what it was for: "for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia" (20:3).

The verses

“at that time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your sandals from off your feet.” He did so, walking naked and barefoot. The LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia,”
Isaiah 20:2-3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 20

Isaiah 20: 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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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions