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, you people of Israel, listen to Yahweh, the one who established your nation. The one who caused you to become a nation [DOU] says this: “Do not be afraid, because I previously rescued you. I enabled you to have a personal relationship with me [MTY], and you belong to me.

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 [experience dangerous situations], and [you feel like] [MET] you are crossing deep rivers, I will be with you. When you have very big troubles/difficulties, you will [LIT] be able to endure them. When [people try to kill you like they tried to kill Daniel’s three friends by] throwing them in a fire, you will not [die, just like Daniel’s three friends were not] burned up,

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.

because I am Yahweh, your God, the Holy One of Israel, the one who rescues you. I will enable [the army of the emperor of Persia] to conquer Egypt instead of conquering you; similarly I will enable them to conquer Ethiopia, and Seba [in Arabia], in order that you can be saved.

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.

I will cause other countries to be conquered, instead of your country; I will trade them for you, in order that you will not be killed, because you are very precious [DOU] to me and because I love you.

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

Do not be afraid, because I am with you. [Some day] I will gather your descendants from the east and 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 command the [rulers of the nations to] the north and to the south, ‘Allow all the people of Israel to return [to their country], from the most distant places on 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.

Allow all those who belong to me [MTY] to return, because I have caused them to become a nation in order that they would honor me; I am the one who has done that [DOU].’

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

Summon the people who have eyes but [it is as though] they are blind; summon those who have ears but [because they do not listen to me, it is as though] they are deaf.

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.”

Gather people of all nations together, ones from all people-groups, [and ask them this]: ‘Has any of their idols foretold the things that are happening now? And can any of them predict what will happen in the future?’ Then bring people who will testify and say ‘I heard them predict things, and what they predicted was what happened,’ [but they will be lying].”

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.

But Yahweh says, “You people of Israel (are my witnesses/know what I have done), and you are the ones who serve me. I chose you in order that you would know me, believe in me, and understand that I am the only one who is [truly] God. There is no other [true] God. There was no other [true] God previously, and there will never be another [true] God.

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

I, [only] I, am Yahweh, and there is no other one who can save you.

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 said that I would rescue [your ancestors], and then I rescued them, and I proclaimed [that I had done it]. No foreign god among you did that! And you are witnesses that only I, Yahweh, am God.

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?

I am God, the one who has existed forever and who will exist forever; no one can snatch people from my hand, and no one can alter/change what I have done.”

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.

Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, is the one who rescues you; and this is what he says: “For your sake, I will send [an army] to [attack] Babylon. They will force the people of that city to flee in ships which they have been proud of.

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

I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the one who caused Israel to become a nation, and the one who is really your king.

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

I am Yahweh, the one who opened a path through the water, making a road through the [Red] Sea.

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.

Then I summoned the great army [of Egypt] to come with all their chariots and horses. [But when they tried to pursue my people], I caused the waves to flow over them [and they drowned]; their lives ended [like the light of a candle ends when someone] [MET] snuffs out the wick.

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

But do not think [only] about what happened in the past, long ago [DOU].

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.

Instead, consider the new thing that I am going to do. I have already started to do it; can you see it? I am going to make a road through the desert. And I will cause there to be streams in the wasteland/desert.

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 jackals/wolves and owls and other wild creatures will thank me for giving them water in the desert. I will cause streams to appear in the dry desert in order that my people, the ones whom I have chosen, will have water;

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

I will do that for the people whom I have created [and chosen] to belong to me, and [some day] they will cause many others to praise me.

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

But now, you descendants of Jacob, you refuse to request my help. It seems that you people of Israel have become tired of worshiping me.

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 brought to me sheep or goats for offerings that will be completely burned [on the altar]; you have not honored me by [bringing to me any] sacrifices, even though the offerings of grain and incense [that I asked you] to bring to me were not a burden to you.

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 bought for me fragrant reeds, and you have brought me the fat from your sacrifices. But these have not pleased me, because you have burdened me by all the sins that you have committed, and made me weary because of all (your iniquities/the wrong things that you have done).

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 am the one who is able to forgive you for all your sins; I am the only one who can do that, with the result that I will never think about them again.

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

Tell me what I have done that you do not like. Do you think that when you state your case, you will prove that you (are innocent/have done nothing wrong) [IRO]?

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

No, [what has happened is that] the first ancestor of you Israelis sinned [against me], and since then, all your leaders have rebelled against me.

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

That is why I have caused your priests to be disgraced; and I have allowed others to destroy you people of Israel and caused you to be despised.”