Isaiah 43

1 And now thus says the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and who formed you, O Israel: Do not be afraid. For I have redeemed you, and I have called you by your name. You are mine.

But now, says the Lord your Maker, O Jacob, and your life-giver, O Israel: have no fear, for I have taken up your cause; naming you by your name, I have made you mine.

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers will not cover you. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, and the flames will not scorch you.

When you go through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not go over you: when you go through the fire, you will not be burned; and the flame will have no power over you.

3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have presented Egypt as your atonement, Ethiopia and Seba on your behalf.

For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your saviour; I have given Egypt as a price for you, Ethiopia and Seba for you.

4 Since then, you have become honorable in my eyes, and glorious. I have loved you, and I will present men on behalf of you, and people on behalf of your life.

Because of your value in my eyes, you have been honoured, and loved by me; so I will give men for you, and peoples for your life.

5 Fear not, for I am with you. I will lead your offspring from the East, and I will gather you from the West.

Have no fear, for I am with you: I will take your seed from the east, and get you together from the west;

6 I will say to the North, “Release him,” and to the South, “Do not turn him away.” Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.

I will say to the north, Give them up; and to the south, Do not keep them back; send back my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth;

7 And each one who calls upon my name, I have created for my glory. I have formed him, and I have made him.

Every one who is named by my name, and whom I have made for my glory, who has been formed and designed by me.

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

Send out the blind people who have eyes, and those who have ears, but they are shut.

9 All the nations have been assembled together, and the tribes have been collected. Who among you will announce this, and who will cause us to listen to the things that are first? Let them present their witnesses. Let them act justly, and listen, and say: “It is true.”

Let all the nations come together, and let the peoples be present: who among them is able to make this clear, and give us word of earlier things? let their witnesses come forward, so that they may be seen to be true, and that they may give ear, and say, It is true.

10 You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and you are my servant, whom I have chosen, so that you may know, and may believe in me, and so that you may understand that I am the same. Before me, there was no god formed, and after me there will be none.

You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have taken for myself: so that you may see and have faith in me, and that it may be clear to you that I am he; before me there was no God formed, and there will not be after me.

11 I am. I am the Lord. And there is no savior apart from me.

I, even I, am the Lord; and there is no saviour but me.

12 I have announced, and I have saved. I have caused it to be heard. And there was no stranger among you. You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God.

I gave the word, and made it clear, and there was no strange god among you: for this reason you are my witnesses, says the Lord.

13 And from the beginning, I am the same. And there is no one who can rescue from my hand. I act, and who can turn it aside?

From time long past I am God, and from this day I am he: there is no one who is able to take you out of my hand: when I undertake a thing, by whom will my purpose be changed?

14 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake, I sent to Babylon, and tore down all their bars, with the Chaldeans who glory in their ships.

The Lord, who has taken up your cause, the Holy One of Israel, says, Because of you I have sent to Babylon, and made all their seers come south, and the Chaldaeans whose cry is in the ships.

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

I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Maker of Israel, your King.

16 Thus says the Lord, who gave you a way through the sea and a path through the torrent of waters,

This is the word of the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, and a road through the deep waters;

17 who led out the chariot and the horse, the column of robust troops. They went to sleep together, and they will not arise. They have been crushed like flax, and they have been extinguished.

Who sends out the war-carriages and the horses, the army with all its force; they have come down, they will not get up again; like a feebly burning light they are put out.

18 You need not call to mind the past, nor consider the things of antiquity.

Give no thought to the things which are past; let the early times go out of your minds.

19 Behold, I am accomplishing new things. And presently, they will spring forth. With certainty, you will know them. I will make a way in the desert, and rivers in an impassible place.

See, I am doing a new thing; now it is starting; will you not take note of it? I will even make a way in the waste land, and rivers in the dry country.

20 The wild beasts of the field will glorify me, with the serpents and the ostriches. For I have brought waters to the desert, rivers to inaccessible places, in order to give drink to my people, to my elect.

The beasts of the field will give me honour, the jackals and the ostriches: because I send out waters in the waste land, and rivers in the dry country, to give drink to the people whom I have taken for myself:

21 This is the people whom I have formed for myself. They will speak my praise.

Even the people whom I made to be the witnesses of my praise.

22 But you have not called upon me, O Jacob, nor have you struggled for me, O Israel.

But you have made no prayer to me, O Jacob: and you have given no thought to me, O Israel.

23 You have not offered me the ram of your holocaust, and you have not glorified me with your victims. I have not burdened you with oblations, nor have I wearied you with incense.

You have not made me burned offerings of sheep, or given me honour with your offerings of beasts; I did not make you servants to give me an offering, and I did not make you tired with requests for perfumes.

24 You have bought me no sweet cane with money, and you have not inebriated me with the fat of your victims. Yet truly, you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities.

You have not got me sweet-smelling plants with your money, or given me pleasure with the fat of your offerings: but you have made me a servant to your sins, and you have made me tired with your evil doings.

25 I am. I am the very One who wipes away your iniquities for my own sake. And I will not remember your sins.

I, even I, am he who takes away your sins; and I will no longer keep your evil doings in mind.

26 Call me to mind, and let us go to judgment together. If you have anything to justify yourself, explain it.

Put me in mind of this; let us take up the cause between us: put forward your cause, so that you may be seen to be in the right.

27 Your first father sinned, and your interpreters have betrayed me.

Your first father was a sinner, and your guides have gone against my word.

28 And so, I have defiled the holy leaders. I have handed over Jacob to slaughter, and Israel to calumny.

Your chiefs have made my holy place unclean, so I have made Jacob a curse, and Israel a thing of shame.