It was in the year when Tharthan, at the bidding of king Sargon of Assyria, inva-ded the territory of Azotus, and captured it by assault,

that the Lord sent out a message through Isaias, son of Amos. Up, said he, and undo the sackcloth that girds thee, and take off thy shoes. This Isaias did, and went bare and unshod.

Whereupon the Lord said, Look, how my servant Isaias goes bare and unshod; that is a sign and a portent of what must come upon Egypt and Ethiopia when three years are past.✻

It is thus that the king of Assyria will lead away the prisoners he takes in Egypt, the exiles from Ethiopia, young and old alike. Bare and unshod they shall go, with their buttocks exposed, to the shame of Egypt.

A time of dismay and confusion for those who put their trust in Ethiopia, who boasted of Egypt’s power!

Dwellers in this nook of earth, they will cry out, Here lay all our hope; these were to be our protectors, and bring us deliverance when the king of Assyria came! And what of us? For us no refuge now.