Isaiah 43
1 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.
And now the Lord God, makynge of nouyt thee, Jacob, and formynge thee, Israel, seith these thingis, Nyle thou drede, for Y ayenbouyte thee, and Y clepide thee bi thi name; thou art my seruaunt.
2 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,
Whanne thou schalt go bi watris, Y schal be with thee, and floodis schulen not hile thee; whanne thou schalt go in fier, thou schalt not be brent, and flawme schal not brenne in thee.
3 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.
For Y am thi Lord God, the hooli of Israel, thi sauyour. I yaf thi merci Egipt; Ethiopie and Saba for thee.
4 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.
Sithen thou art maad onourable, and gloriouse in myn iyen; Y louyde thee, and Y schal yyue men for thee, and puplis for thi soule.
5 Do not be afraid, because I am with you. [Some day] I will gather your descendants from the east and from the west.
Nyle thou drede, for Y am with thee; Y schal brynge thi seed fro the eest, and Y schal gadere thee togidere fro the west.
6 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.
Y schal seie to the north, Yyue thou, and to the south, Nyle thou forbede; brynge thou my sones fro afer, and my douytris fro the laste partis of erthe.
7 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].’
And ech that clepith my name to help, in to my glorie Y made hym of nouyt; Y fourmyde hym, and made hym.
8 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.
Lede thou forth the blynde puple, and hauynge iyen; the deef puple, and eeris ben to it.
9 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].”
Alle hethene men ben gaderid togidere, and lynagis be gaderid togidere. Who among you, who schal telle this, and schal make you to here tho thingis, that ben the firste? yyue thei witnessis of hem, and be thei iustified, and here thei, and seie.
10 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.
Verili ye ben my witnessis, seith the Lord, and my seruaunt, whom Y chees; that ye wite, and bileue to me, and vndurstonde, for Y mysilf am; bifore me is no God formere, and after me schal noon be.
11 I, [only] I, am Yahweh, and there is no other one who can save you.
Y am, Y am the Lord, and with out me is no sauyour.
12 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.
I telde, and sauyde; Y made heryng, and noon alien God was among you. Ye ben my witnessis, seith the Lord;
13 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.”
and Y am God fro the bigynnyng, Y my silf am, and noon is that delyuerith fro myn hoond; Y schal worche, and who schal distrie it?
14 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.
The Lord, youre ayenbiere, the hooli of Israel, seith these thingis, For you Y sente out in to Babiloyne, and Y drow doun alle barris, and Caldeis hauynge glorie in her schippis.
15 I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the one who caused Israel to become a nation, and the one who is really your king.
Y am the Lord, youre hooli, youre king, makynge Israel of nouyt.
16 I am Yahweh, the one who opened a path through the water, making a road through the [Red] Sea.
The Lord seith these thingis, that yaf weie in the see, and a path in rennynge watris;
17 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.
which ledde out a carte, and hors, a cumpany, and strong man; thei slepten togidere, nether thei schulen rise ayen; thei ben al tobrokun as flex, and ben quenchid.
18 But do not think [only] about what happened in the past, long ago [DOU].
Thenke ye not on the formere thingis, and biholde ye not olde thingis.
19 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.
Lo! Y make newe thingis, and now tho schulen bigynne to be maad; sotheli ye schulen know tho. Y schal sette weie in desert, and floodis in a lond without weie.
20 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;
And a beeste of the feelde schal glorifie me, dragouns and ostrigis schulen glorifie me; for Y yaf watris in desert, and floodis in the lond without weie, that Y schulde yyue drynk to my puple, to my chosun puple.
21 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.
Y fourmyde this puple to me, it schal telle my preysyng.
22 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.
Jacob, thou clepidist not me to help; and thou, Israel, trauelidist not for me.
23 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.
Thou offridist not to me the ram of thi brent sacrifice, and thou glorifiedist not me with thi slayn sacrifices. Y made not thee to serue in offryng, nethir Y yaf to thee trauel in encense.
24 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).
Thou bouytist not to me swete smellynge spicerie for siluer, and thou fillidist not me with fatnesse of thi slayn sacrifices; netheles thou madist me to serue in thi synnes, thou yauest trauel to me in thi wickidnessis.
25 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.
Y am, Y my silf am, that do awei thi wickidnessis for me, and Y schal not haue mynde on thy synnes.
26 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]?
Brynge me ayen in to mynde, and be we demyd togidere; telle thou, if thou hast ony thing, that thou be iustified.
27 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.
Thi firste fadir synnede, and thin interpretours trespassiden ayens me.
28 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.”
And Y made foul hooli princes, and Y yaf Jacob to deth, and Israel in to blasfemye.
