Isaiah 43

¹But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. ²When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. ³For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy saviour; I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. ⁴Since thou hast been precious in my sight, andhonourable, and I have loved thee; therefore will I give men for thee, and peoples for thy life. ⁵Fear not; for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; ⁶I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth; ⁷every one that is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory; I have formed him; yea, I have made him. ⁸Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. ⁹Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. ¹⁰Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he; before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. ¹¹I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. ¹²I have declared, and I have saved, and I have shewed, and there was no strange godamong you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and I am God. ¹³Yea, since the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it? ¹⁴Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. ¹⁵I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. ¹⁶Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; ¹⁷which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as flax: ¹⁸Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. ¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. ²⁰The beasts of the field shall honour me, the jackals and the ostriches: because I give waters 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 set forth my praise. ²²Yet thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. ²³Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not made thee to serve with offerings, nor wearied thee with frankincense. ²⁴Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. ²⁵I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake; and I will not remember thy sins. ²⁶Put me in remembrance; let us plead together: set thou forth thy cause, that thou mayest be justified. ²⁷Thy first father sinned, and thine interpreters have transgressed against me. ²⁸Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel a reviling.