Isaiah 43

1 But now thus says Jehovah who created thee, O Jacob, and he who formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name, Thou are mine.

2 When thou pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walk through the fire, thou shall not be burned, nor shall the flame kindle upon thee.

3 For I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in thy stead.

4 Since thou have been precious in my sight, and honorable, and I have loved thee, therefore I will give men in thy stead, and peoples instead of thy life.

5 Fear not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west.

6 I 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,

7 everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yea, whom I have made.

8 Bring forth the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.

9 Let 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, It is truth.

10 Ye are my witnesses, says Jehovah, 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, nor shall there be after me.

11 I, even I, am Jehovah, and besides me there is no savior.

12 I have declared, and I have saved, and I have shown, and there was no strange god among you. Therefore ye are my witnesses, says Jehovah, and I am God.

13 Yea, since the day was I am he, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?

14 Thus says Jehovah, 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.

15 I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.

16 Thus says Jehovah, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters,

17 who brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together; they shall not rise; they are extinct; they are quenched as a wick):

18 Do not remember ye the former things, nor consider the things of old.

19 Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

20 The beasts of the field shall honor 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,

21 the people whom I formed for myself, that they might set forth my praise.

22 Yet thou have not called upon me, O Jacob, but thou have been weary of me, O Israel.

23 Thou have not brought me from thy sheep for burnt offerings, nor have thou honored me with thy sacrifices. I have not burdened thee with offerings, nor wearied thee with frankincense.

24 Thou have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices. But thou have burdened me with thy sins. Thou have wearied me with thine iniquities.

25 I, even I, am he who blots out thy transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember thy sins.

26 Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Set thou forth thy case that thou may be justified.

27 Thy first father sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.

28 Therefore I will profane the rulers of the sanctuary, and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel a reviling.