Isaiah 43

1But now, this is what Yahweh says—the one who created you, Jacob, the one who shaped you, Israel: Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name; you belong to me.

2When you go through the waters, I am there with you; when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be singed, and the flames will not set you ablaze.

3For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt to ransom you, Cush and Seba in your place.

4Since you are precious to me and held in honor, and since I love you, I give people in your place and nations as the price of your life.

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

6I will tell the north, “Hand them over!” and the south, “Do not keep them back! Bring my sons from far off and my daughters from the end of the earth—

7all who are called by my name, whom I created for my own glory, whom I shaped and indeed made.”

8Lead out a blind people that has eyes, a deaf people that has ears.

9All the nations have gathered, and the peoples have assembled. Which of them can foretell this or tell us what happened before? Let them produce their witnesses to show they are right, and let people hear and say, “It is true.”

10You are my witnesses, declares Yahweh, and my servant, the one I chose, so that you may know and trust me and grasp that I am he. No god was shaped before me, and none will exist after me.

11I, yes I, am Yahweh, and apart from me no one saves.

12It was I who announced it, I who saved, and I who made it known, while no foreign god was among you. You are my witnesses, declares Yahweh, that I am God.

13Since time began I am he; no one rescues from my grip. I act—who can turn it back?

14This is what Yahweh says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I will send to Babylon and bring all of them down as runaways, the Chaldeans, in the ships they once sang about.

15I am Yahweh, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King.

16This is what Yahweh says, who cuts a road through the sea and a track through raging waters,

17who leads out chariots and horses, troops and mighty men all together—they lie down and never get up again; they flicker out, snuffed like a wick:

18Do not call to mind the earlier things, and do not keep thinking about the things of old.

19See, I am about to do something new; it is sprouting even now—do you not recognize it? I will open a road in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

20The animals of the field will give me honor, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have put water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland to give my people, my chosen ones, something to drink—

21the people I shaped for myself, who will tell of my praise.

22Yet it was not me you called on, Jacob; no, you grew tired of me, Israel.

23You did not bring me your sheep as burnt offerings or give me honor with your sacrifices. I did not make you slave over grain offerings or wear you out over frankincense.

24You did not spend silver to buy me fragrant cane or drench me with the fat of your sacrifices. Instead, you made me slave over your sins and wore me out with your iniquities.

25I, yes I, am the one who erases your transgressions for my own sake, and your sins I will not remember.

26Refresh my memory; let us go to court together; lay out your side so that you may be shown to be in the right.

27Your earliest ancestor sinned, and those who spoke for you rebelled against me.

28So I defiled the leaders of the holy place and handed Jacob over to total destruction and Israel to insults.