« | Isaiah 20 | » |
1 In the year when King Sargon of Assyria sent his commander in chief to capture the Philistine city of Ashdod,
2 the LORD told Isaiah son of Amoz, "Take off the burlap you have been wearing, and remove your sandals." Isaiah did as he was told and walked around naked and barefoot.
3 Then the LORD said, "My servant Isaiah has been walking around naked and barefoot for the last three years. This is a sign-- a symbol of the terrible troubles I will bring upon Egypt and Ethiopia.
4 For the king of Assyria will take away the Egyptians and Ethiopians as prisoners. He will make them walk naked and barefoot, both young and old, their buttocks bared, to the shame of Egypt.
5 Then the Philistines will be thrown into panic, for they counted on the power of Ethiopia and boasted of their allies in Egypt!
6 They will say, 'If this can happen to Egypt, what chance do we have? We were counting on Egypt to protect us from the king of Assyria.'"
The New Living Translation (NLT)
The New Living Translation (NLT) is a modern English translation of the Bible that aims to make the Scriptures accessible and engaging for contemporary readers. First published in 1996 by Tyndale House Publishers, the NLT was conceived as an effort to create a translation that combines both accuracy and readability. Unlike many other translations that focus on a word-for-word rendering of the original texts, the NLT employs a thought-for-thought translation philosophy, also known as dynamic equivalence. This approach prioritizes conveying the meaning and message of the original texts in a way that is natural and understandable in modern English.
One of the defining features of the NLT is its commitment to clarity and simplicity. The translators, a team of over 90 evangelical scholars, aimed to create a text that would be approachable for a wide audience, including those who may find traditional translations challenging to read. The NLT’s language is contemporary and conversational, making it particularly effective for public reading, teaching, and personal study. This emphasis on readability helps ensure that the profound messages of the Bible are easily grasped and retained by readers from various backgrounds and levels of biblical knowledge.