Isaiah 43

New King James Version

The Redeemer of Israel

43 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, ^(A)for I have redeemed you;
^(B)I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
²^(C)When you pass through the waters, ^(D)I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you ^(E)walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
³For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
^(F)I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
⁴Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honored,
And I have ^(G)loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.
⁵^(H)Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
And ^(I)gather you from the west;
⁶I will say to the ^(J)north, ‘Give them up!’
And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’
Bring My sons from afar,
And My daughters from the ends of the earth—
⁷Everyone who is ^(K)called by My name,
Whom ^(L)I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”

⁸^(M)Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
And the ^(N)deaf who have ears.
⁹Let all the nations be gathered together,
And let the people be assembled.
^(O)Who among them can declare this,
And show us former things?
Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified;
Or let them hear and say, “It is truth.”
¹⁰“You^(P) are My witnesses,” says the Lord,
^(Q)“And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and ^(R)believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
¹¹I, even I, ^(S)am the Lord,
And besides Me there is no savior.
¹²I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed,
And there was no ^(T)foreign god among you;
^(U)Therefore you are My witnesses,”
Says the Lord, “that I am God.
¹³^(V)Indeed before the day was, I am He;
And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will ^(W)reverse it?”

¹⁴Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon,
And bring them all down as fugitives—
The Chaldeans, who rejoice in their ships.
¹⁵I am the Lord, your Holy One,
The Creator of Israel, your ^(X)King.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord, who ^(Y)makes a way in the sea
And a ^(Z)path through the mighty waters,
¹⁷Who ^(AA)brings forth the chariot and horse,
The army and the power
(They shall lie down together, they shall not rise;
They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick):
¹⁸“Do^(AB) not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
¹⁹Behold, I will do a ^(AC)new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
^(AD)I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
²⁰The beast of the field will honor Me,
The jackals and the ostriches,
Because ^(AE)I give waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to My people, My chosen.
²¹^(AF)This people I have formed for Myself;
They shall declare My ^(AG)praise.

Pleading with Unfaithful Israel

²²“But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob;
And you ^(AH)have been weary of Me, O Israel.
²³^(AI)You have not brought Me the sheep for your burnt offerings,
Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices.
I have not caused you to serve with grain offerings,
Nor wearied you with incense.
²⁴You have bought Me no sweet cane with money,
Nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices;
But you have burdened Me with your sins,
You have ^(AJ)wearied Me with your iniquities.

²⁵“I, even I, am He who ^(AK)blots out your transgressions ^(AL)for My own sake;
^(AM)And I will not remember your sins.
²⁶Put Me in remembrance;
Let us contend together;
State your case, that you may be ^[a]acquitted.
²⁷Your first father sinned,
And your ^[b]mediators have transgressed against Me.
²⁸Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;
^(AN)I will give Jacob to the curse,
And Israel to reproaches.

Footnotes

Isaiah 43:26 justified
Isaiah 43:27 interpreters

Isaiah 43

New International Reader's Version

The Lord Saves Israel

43 Family of Jacob, the Lord created you.
    People of Israel, he formed you.
He says, “Do not be afraid.
    I will set you free.
I will send for you by name.
    You belong to me.
²You will pass through deep waters.
    But I will be with you.
You will pass through the rivers.
    But their waters will not sweep over you.
You will walk through fire.
    But you will not be burned.
    The flames will not harm you.
³I am the Lord your God.
    I am the Holy One of Israel.
    I am the one who saves you.
I will give up Egypt to set you free.
    I will give up Cush and Seba for you.
⁴You are priceless to me.
    I love you and honor you.
So I will trade other people for you.
    I will give up other nations to save your lives.
⁵Do not be afraid. I am with you.
    I will bring your people back from the east.
    I will gather you from the west.
⁶I will say to the north, ‘Let them go!’
    And I will say to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from far away.
    Bring my daughters from the farthest places on earth.
⁷Bring back everyone who belongs to me.
    I created them to bring glory to me.
    I formed them and made them.”

⁸Lead my people into court.
    They have eyes but can’t see.
    Bring those who have ears but can’t hear.
⁹All the nations are gathering together.
    All of them are coming.
Which one of their gods said ahead of time
    that the people of Israel would return?
    Which of them told us anything at all about the past?
Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right.
    Then others will hear them. And they will say,
    “What they said is true.”
¹⁰“People of Israel, you are my witnesses,” announces the Lord.
    “I have chosen you to be my servant.
I wanted you to know me and believe in me.
    I wanted you to understand that I am the one and only God.
Before me, there was no other god at all.
    And there will not be any god after me.
¹¹I am the one and only Lord.
    I am the only one who can save you.
¹²I have made known what would happen.
    I saved you. I have told you about it.
I did this. It was not some other god you worship.
    You are my witnesses that I am God,” announces the Lord.
¹³“And that is not all! I have always been God,
    and I always will be.
No one can save people from my power.
    When I do something, who can undo it?”

The Lord Is Full of Mercy but Israel Is Unfaithful

¹⁴The Lord sets his people free.
    He is the Holy One of Israel. He says,
“People of Israel, I will send an army to Babylon to save you.
    I will cause all the Babylonians to run away.
    They will try to escape in the ships they were so proud of.
¹⁵I am your Lord and King.
    I am your Holy One.
    I created you.”

¹⁶Long ago the Lord opened
    a way for his people to go through the Red Sea.
    He made a path through the mighty waters.
¹⁷He caused Egypt to send out its chariots and horses.
    He sent its entire army to its death.
Its soldiers lay down there.
    They never got up again.
    They were destroyed.
They were blown out like a dimly burning flame.
    But the Lord says,
¹⁸“Forget the things that happened in the past.
    Do not keep on thinking about them.
¹⁹I am about to do something new.
    It is beginning to happen even now.
    Don’t you see it coming?
I am going to make a way for you to go through the desert.
    I will make streams of water in the dry and empty land.
²⁰Even wild dogs and owls honor me.
    That is because I provide water in the desert
    for my people to drink.
I cause streams to flow in the dry and empty land
    for my chosen ones.
²¹I do it for the people I made for myself.
    I want them to sing praise to me.

²²“Family of Jacob, you have not prayed to me as you should.
    People of Israel, you have not worn yourselves out for me.
²³You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings.
    You have not honored me with your sacrifices.
I have not loaded you down
    by requiring grain offerings.
I have not made you tired
    by requiring you to burn incense.
²⁴But you have not bought any sweet-smelling cane for me.
    You have not given me the fattest parts
    of your animal sacrifices.
Instead, you have loaded me down with your sins.
    You have made me tired with the wrong things you have done.

²⁵“I am the one who wipes out your lawless acts.
    I do it because of who I am.
    I will not remember your sins anymore.
²⁶But let us go to court together.
    Remind me of what you have done.
State your case.
    Prove to me that you are not guilty.
²⁷Your father Jacob sinned.
    The people I sent to teach you refused to obey me.
²⁸So I put the high officials of your temple to shame.
    I let Jacob’s family be totally destroyed.
    And I let people make fun of Israel.

New King James Version (NKJV)

New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

Isaiah 43 New King James Version