43:1 BUT NOW [in spite of past judgments for Israel's sins], thus says the Lord, He Who created you, O Jacob, and He Who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you [ransomed you by paying a price instead of leaving you captives]; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. |
43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned {or} scorched, nor will the flame kindle upon you. |
43:3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt [to the Babylonians] for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba [a province of Ethiopia] in exchange [for your release]. |
43:4 Because you are precious in My sight and honored, and because I love you, I will give men in return for you and peoples in exchange for your life. |
43:5 Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east [where they are dispersed] and gather you from the west. |
43:6 I will say to the north, Give up! and to the south, Keep not back. Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth-- |
43:7 Even everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, whom I have made. |
43:8 Bring forth the blind people who have eyes and the deaf who have ears. |
43:9 Let all the nations be gathered together and let the peoples be assembled. Who among [the idolaters] could predict this [that Cyrus would be the deliverer of Israel] and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified, or let them hear and acknowledge, It is the truth. |
43:10 You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know Me, believe Me {and} remain steadfast to Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. |
43:11 I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior. |
43:12 I have declared [the future] and have saved [the nation in times of danger], and I have shown [that I am God]--when there was no strange and alien god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God. |
43:13 Yes, from the time of the first existence of day {and} from this day forth I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand. I will work, and who can hinder {or} reverse it? |
43:14 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent [one] to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, [with] all their nobles, even the Chaldeans, into the ships over which they rejoiced. |
43:15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. |
43:16 Thus says the Lord, Who makes a way through the sea and a path through the mighty waters, |
43:17 Who brings forth chariot and horse, army and mighty warrior. They lie down together, they cannot rise; they are extinguished, they are quenched like a lampwick: |
43:18 Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old. |
43:19 Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive {and} know it {and} will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. |
43:20 The beasts of the field 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, |
43:21 The people I formed for Myself, that they may set forth My praise [and they shall do it]. |
43:22 Yet you have not called upon Me [much less toiled for Me], O Jacob; but you have been weary of Me, O Israel! |
43:23 You have not brought Me your sheep {and} goats for burnt offerings, or honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not required you to serve with an offering {or} treated you as a slave by demanding tribute or wearied you with offering incense. |
43:24 You have not bought Me sweet cane with money, or satiated Me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have only burdened Me with your sins; you have wearied Me with your iniquities. |
43:25 I, even I, am He Who blots out {and} cancels your transgressions, for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. |
43:26 Put Me in remembrance [remind Me of your merits]; let us plead {and} argue together. Set forth your case, that you may be justified (proved right). |
43:27 Your first father [Jacob, in particular] sinned, and your teachers [the priests and the prophets--your mediators] transgressed against Me. |
43:28 And so I will profane the chief ones of the sanctuary and will deliver Jacob to the curse (the ban, a solemn anathema or excommunication) and [will subject] Israel to reproaches {and} reviling. |