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Isaiah 20 · a question people ask

"The inhabitants of this coast land will say in that day" (20:6). Who are they?

In the text

The chapter doesn't name them, and these notes don't either. Coast land is i, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "coast, region", and the verse says only "this coast land" (20:6). What the chapter gives is what they will say: "Behold, this is our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria" (20:6). Expectation there is the word of the verse before, "because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory" (20:5) (tap expectation). These notes don't say which people 20:6 means, and apply the verse to no people today.

The verses

“They will be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. 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?’””
Isaiah 20:5-6 · 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