Isaiah 43

¹ But now, thus says Yahweh, who created you, Jacob, who formed you, Israel: Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine.

² Should you pass through the sea, I will be with you; or through rivers, they will not swallow you up. Should you walk through fire, you will not be scorched and the flames will not burn you.

³ For I am Yahweh, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your saviour. I give Egypt for your ransom, and exchange Cush and Seba for you.

⁴ Because you are precious in my eyes, because you are honoured and I love you, I give men in exchange for you, peoples in return for your life.

⁵ Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west.

⁶ To the north I will say, ‘Give them up’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them’. Bring back my sons from far away, my daughters from the end of the earth,

⁷ all those who bear my name, whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, whom I have made.

⁸ Bring forward the people that is blind, yet has eyes, that is deaf and yet has ears.

⁹ Let all the nations muster and assemble with every race. Which of them ever declared this or foretold this in the past? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, let men hear them so that they may say, ‘It is true’.

¹⁰ You yourselves are my witnesses – it is Yahweh who speaks – my servants whom I have chosen, that men may know and believe me and understand that it is I. No god was formed before me, nor will be after me.

¹¹ I, I am Yahweh, there is no other saviour but me.

¹² It is I who have spoken, have saved, have made the proclamation, not any strangers among you. You are my witnesses – it is Yahweh who speaks – and I, I am your God,

¹³ I am he from eternity. No one can deliver from my hand, I act and no one can reverse it.

¹⁴ Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I send an army against Babylon; I will knock down the prison bars and the Chaldaeans will break into laments.

¹⁵ I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your king.

¹⁶ Thus says Yahweh, who made a way through the sea, – a path in the great waters;

¹⁷ who put chariots and horse in the field and a powerful army, which lay there never to rise again, snuffed out, put out like a wick:

¹⁸ No need to recall the past, no need to think about what was done before.

¹⁹ See, I am doing a new deed, even now it comes to light; can you not see it? Yes, I am making a road in the wilderness, paths in the wilds.

²⁰ The wild beasts will honour me, jackals and ostriches, because I am putting water in the wilderness (rivers in the wild) to give my chosen people drink.

²¹ The people I have formed for myself will sing my praises.

²² Jacob, you have not invoked me, you have not troubled yourself, Israel, on my behalf.

²³ You have not brought me your sheep for holocausts, nor honoured me with sacrifices. I have never burdened you with oblations, nor troubled you for incense.

²⁴ You have spent no money on fragrant cane for me, you have not filled me with the fat of your sacrifices. Instead you have burdened me with your sins, troubled me with your iniquities.

²⁵ I it is, I it is, who must blot out everything and not remember your sins.

²⁶ Cast your mind back, let us judge this together; state your own case and prove your innocence.

²⁷ Your first father[*a] sinned, your mediators have rebelled against me.

²⁸ Your princes have profaned my sanctuary. So I have handed Jacob over to the ban, and Israel to insults.