Isaiah 43

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

Israel's only Savior

¹ But now, thus says Yahweh, who created you, O Jacob, and who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. ² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you; when you walk through fire, you will not be burned, and the flame will not consume you. ³ For I am Yahweh your Elohim, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. ⁴ Because you are precious in My eyes, and honored, and I love you, I will give men in your place, and peoples in exchange for your life. ⁵ Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west. ⁶ I will say to the north: Give them up! And to the south: Do not hold them back! Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the end of the earth, ⁷ everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed, yes, whom I made.

⁸ Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, and the deaf, yet have ears. ⁹ All the nations are gathered together, and the peoples are assembled. Who among them can declare this, and make us hear the former things? Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be proved right; or let them hear and say, "It is true." ¹⁰ You are My witnesses, declares Yahweh, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, and after Me there will be none. ¹¹ I, I am Yahweh, and besides Me there is no savior. ¹² I declared, and saved, and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are My witnesses, declares Yahweh, and I am El. ¹³ Even before the day was, I am He, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand; I act, and who can turn it back?

A new exodus

¹⁴ Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoiced. ¹⁵ I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.

¹⁶ Thus says Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters, ¹⁷ who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior together; they lie down, they will not rise; they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: ¹⁸ Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. ¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing; now it springs up; do you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. ²⁰ The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen, ²¹ the people whom I formed for Myself, that they may declare My praise.

Israel's sins blotted out

²² Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob; but you have grown weary of Me, O Israel. ²³ You have not brought Me the sheep of your burnt offerings, nor honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not made you serve with grain offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense. ²⁴ You have not bought Me fragrant cane with money, nor satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices; but you have made Me serve with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities. ²⁵ I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. ²⁶ Put Me in remembrance; let us argue our case together; state your case, that you may be proved right. ²⁷ Your first father sinned, and your spokesmen transgressed against Me. ²⁸ So I profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and gave Jacob over to destruction and Israel to reviling.

Notes

• 43:1 "Redeemed" is ga'al, the verb of the go'el, the near relative who bought back family land and family members sold in poverty (see the note at Ruth 2:20); in Isaiah 40-66 Yahweh calls Himself Israel's Go'el again and again (43:14, 44:6, 44:24). The One who created and formed Israel claims it as next of kin: "you are Mine."
• 43:3 "Ransom" is kofer, the price paid to set a life free. Proverbs uses the same word: "The wicked is a ransom for the righteous" (Proverbs 21:18). Many connect the verse with Persia, which after freeing the exiles went on to conquer Egypt (525 BC) and to rule over Cush; others take the words as a picture of how much Israel is worth to Yahweh (verse 4).
• 43:10 Yahweh opens a courtroom: the nations bring their witnesses (verse 9), and Israel, "My servant" as in 41:8 and 44:1, is called to testify for Him. "I am He" (ani hu) is the same declaration as "See now that I, I am He" (Deuteronomy 32:39); the Greek Septuagint gives it as ego eimi, "I am," and many hear it again when Yeshua uses ego eimi of Himself in John 13:19 (compare John 8:24, 28). "Before Me no god was formed" carries irony: every other "god" had to be formed by someone (44:10), but Yahweh was never formed.
• 43:14 The Hebrew of the second half is difficult. "Fugitives" (berichim) can also be read "bars," the bars of the city gates broken down, and "the ships in which they rejoiced" may describe Babylon's boasted river trade. The sense is clear either way: for Israel's sake Yahweh brings proud Babylon down.
• 43:19 Verses 16-17 recall the crossing of the sea and Pharaoh's chariots sunk in it (Exodus 14), yet Israel is told not to dwell on "the former things." The coming return from exile will be a new exodus so great that it outshines the first: then Yahweh made a way through the sea, now He will make a way through the wilderness and give water in the desert.
• 43:24 Two verbs are turned around. Yahweh did not make Israel serve (he'evid, from avad, the root of eved, "servant") or weary it with heavy demands for offerings; instead Israel "made Me serve" and "wearied Me" with its sins. The Elohim whose servant Israel is (verse 10) is pictured carrying Israel's sins like a servant's load.
• 43:27 "Your first father" is most often taken as Jacob, whose name Israel bears and whose failings the prophets recall (Hosea 12:2-4); some think of Abraham, others of Adam. "Spokesmen" (melitsim, the word for Joseph's "interpreter" in Genesis 42:23) may be the priests and prophets who should have spoken between Yahweh and the people. Israel's whole history, from its beginning, shows the need for verse 25.

Isaiah 42 · Isaiah 44

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