Prophets are often called to do more than just talk and write; sometimes the Lord commands them to take actions which physically enact a spiritual truth or portend a coming event (i.e., Agabus binds himself with Paul's belt, Jonah spends three days in the belly of a fish, etc.) So it is in this brief chapter.
In Isaiah 20, the prophet is instructed to walk around naked and barefoot for three years as an enactment regarding Egypt and Ethiopia. (I'm sooo glad God doesn't ask His servants to do this very often! You should be, too!) God then explains this seemingly bizarre behavior: "Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent against Egypt and Ethiopia, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as captives and the Ethiopians as exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt" (vs. 3-4).
The underlying message to the people is that it is no use putting hope and trust in Egyptians and Ethiopians; they will not save God's people out of the hand of the Assyrians but also suffer defeat at their hands (vs. 5-6). The enactment of Isaiah naked and barefoot is a stark way of putting the truth that the Israelites' only hope lies in God, not foreign allies.
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