Isaiah 43
43
Chapter 43
God redeems Israel
1Israelites, descendants of Jacob, the Lord created you, and he made you who you are. Now he says this to you:
‘Do not be afraid,
I have rescued you to belong to me.
I have called you by your name,
so now you are mine.
2When you go through deep water,
I will be with you.
When you cross dangerous rivers,
you will not drown.
When you walk through fire,
it will not burn you.
The flames will not destroy you. #43:2 The dangerous rivers and the fires are pictures of different kinds of trouble. God says that he will always be there to help his people, whatever troubles they may have.
3I am the Lord, your God,
so I will rescue you.
I am Israel's Holy God, your Saviour.
I gave Egypt as the price to buy you back.
I gave Ethiopia and Seba to their enemies,
so that you could be free.
4You are very valuable to me.
You are my special people, and I love you.
So I will give other people to their enemies,
to keep your lives safe.
Other nations will pay the price,
instead of you.
5I am with you,
so do not be afraid.
I will bring your descendants from the east.
I will also bring you together from the west.
6I will say to people in the north,
“Give them back!”
And I will say to people in the south,
“Do not stop them!”
Bring my sons from places that are far away.
Bring my daughters from the ends of the earth.
7Bring back everyone who belongs to me.
I created them,
so that they would bring honour to me.
I made them who they are.
Yes, I made them!
8So bring the people to me.
They have eyes, but they are blind!
They have ears, but they are deaf!
9Tell the people of all nations to come together.
Did any of their gods tell us what would happen?
If anyone heard them speak the truth,
they should bring those people to this court.
Then they can tell us that they were right.
People could say, “They spoke the truth.” ’
10The Lord says to his people,
‘You are the people who must say that I am right.
I have chosen you as my servant.
I chose you so that you may know me,
and also believe in me.
Then you would understand that I am the true God.
There has never been any other god except me,
and there never will be.
11I am the Lord, I alone.
There is no other saviour, except me.
12I promised to save you,
and I did what I said I would do.
I told everyone what I had done.
There was no foreign god among you,
who did that for you.
So you are the people who must say
that I am the only true God.’
That is what the Lord says.
13‘Today and every day, I am God.
If I hold you in my hand,
nobody can take you away from my power.
When I do something,
nobody can change it.’
14The Lord is your Redeemer, Israel's Holy God. He says this:
‘I will send an army to attack Babylon,
so that you, my people, will be safe.
I will cause all the Babylonians to run away.
They were proud of their great ships,
but now they will use them to escape from their enemies.
15I am the Lord, your Holy God.
I am the one who created Israel.
I am your King.’
16The Lord is the one who made a road through the sea for you to cross. You went on a dry path in the middle of the deep water. 17He led the enemy's great army, with their chariots and their horses, to chase you. They all fell down and the water drowned them. Their lives finished, like the flame of a lamp that stops burning.
18The Lord did all that for you, but now he says,
‘Forget those things that happened a long time ago.
Do not think about past events.
19Look! Now I will do something that is new!
It is already beginning to happen.
Surely, you can recognize it.
Yes, I will make a road through the desert.
I will make streams in the wilderness.
20The wild animals in the desert praise me,
including the jackals and the owls.
They praise me because I put water in the desert,
and streams in the wilderness.
I am giving water to the people that I have chosen,
so that they will not be thirsty.
21They are the people that I made for myself,
so that they would praise me aloud.
22But you Israelites, Jacob's descendants,
you did not call to me to help you.
You became tired of serving me.
23You did not bring sheep to me as burnt offerings.
You did not make sacrifices to me,
to show that you respect me.
I did not make it difficult for you,
when I asked you to bring offerings to me.
When I asked you to burn incense to worship me,
that should not have made you tired.
24You did not buy any spices
to offer them to me.
You did not bring me the fat from your sacrifices
to make me happy.
Instead, you have made it difficult for me,
because of all your sins.
All the evil things that you do
have caused me to become very tired.
25But I am the one who removes your sins
when you do not obey me.
I, the Lord, do that, because of who I am.
I do not hold your sins in my mind.
26So let us talk together about what has happened.
Show me why you think that you are right!
27Your first ancestor did not obey me. #43:27 ‘Your first ancestor’ may mean Jacob (Israel). He was the ancestor of the Israelite nation.
Your leaders and teachers turned against me.
28So I caused the priests of your temple
to become ashamed.
I caused enemies to destroy Israel.
I let them insult Jacob's descendants.’
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Isaiah 43
43
1But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob,
and he who formed you, Israel, says:
“Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by your name.
You are mine.
2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,
and through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned,
and flame will not scorch you.
3For I am Yahweh your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
your Savior.
I have given Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
4Since you have been precious and honored in my sight,
and I have loved you,
therefore I will give people in your place,
and nations instead of your life.
5Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and gather you from the west.
6I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’
and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back!
Bring my sons from far away,
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
7everyone who is called by my name,
and whom I have created for my glory,
whom I have formed,
yes, whom I have made.’”
8Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
and the deaf who have ears.
9Let all the nations be gathered together,
and let the peoples be assembled.
Who among them can declare this,
and show us former things?
Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified,
or let them hear, and say, “That is true.”
10“You are my witnesses,” says Yahweh,
“With my servant whom I have chosen;
that you may know and believe me,
and understand that I am he.
Before me there was no God formed,
neither will there be after me.
11I myself am Yahweh.
Besides me, there is no savior.
12I have declared, I have saved, and I have shown,
and there was no strange god among you.
Therefore you are my witnesses”,
says Yahweh, “and I am God.
13Yes, since the day was, I am he.
There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
I will work, and who can hinder it?”
14Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “For your sake, I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. 15I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”
16Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea,
and a path in the mighty waters,
17who brings out the chariot and horse,
the army and the mighty man
(they lie down together, they shall not rise;
they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick) says:
18“Don’t remember the former things,
and don’t consider the things of old.
19Behold, I will do a new thing.
It springs out now.
Don’t you know it?
I will even make a way in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert.
20The animals of the field, the jackals and the ostriches, shall honor me,
because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21the people which I formed for myself,
that they might declare my praise.
22Yet you have not called on me, Jacob;
but you have been weary of me, Israel.
23You have not brought me any of your sheep for burnt offerings,
neither have you honored me with your sacrifices.
I have not burdened you with offerings,
nor wearied you with frankincense.
24You have bought me no sweet cane with money,
nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices,
but you have burdened me with your sins.
You have wearied me with your iniquities.
25I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake;
and I will not remember your sins.
26Put me in remembrance.
Let us plead together.
Declare your case,
that you may be justified.
27Your first father sinned,
and your teachers have transgressed against me.
28Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;
and I will make Jacob a curse,
and Israel an insult.”
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