A reading from the book of Isaiah.

In the year that the commander-in-chief, who was sent by Sargon the King of Assyria,

came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it.

At that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amaz, saying,

Go and loose the sackcloth from your waist waist and take off your sandals from your feet.

And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

Then the Lord said, as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years,

as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush.

So shall the King of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles,

both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness

of Egypt.

Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope,

and of Egypt their boast. And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day,

Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped, and to whom we fled for help to be

delivered from the king of Assyria. And we, how

shall we escape? The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in

the Negeves sweep on, it comes from the wilderness from a terrible land. A stern vision is told to me. The traitor betrays,

and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam. Lay siege, O media. All the sighing she has caused,

I bring to an end. Therefore, my loins are filled with anguish. Pangs have seized me like the pangs

of a woman in labor. I am bowed down so that I cannot hear. I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

My heart staggers. Horror has appalled me. The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into

trembling. They prepare the table. They spread the rugs. They eat, they drink. Arise, O princes,

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