Isaiah 43:4-24

4 Since thou art made honourable, and glorious in mine eyes; I (have) loved thee, and I shall give (up) men for thee, and peoples for thy soul.

5 Do not thou dread, for I am with thee; I shall bring thy seed from the east, and I shall gather thee together from the west. (Do not thou fear, for I am with thee; I shall bring thy descendants from the east, and I shall gather thee together from the west.)

6 I shall say to the north, Give thou (them up), and to the south, Do not thou forbid (them); bring thou my sons from afar, and my daughters from the last parts of [the] earth (and my daughters from the ends of the earth).

7 And each that calleth my name to help, into my glory I made him of nought; I formed him, and made him. (Yea, each person who is called by my name, for I made them out of nothing, for my glory; I formed them, and I made them.)

8 Lead thou forth the blind people, and having eyes; the deaf people, and ears be to it. (Lead thou forth the people who have eyes, but be blind; the people who have ears, but be deaf.)

9 All heathen men be gathered together, and lineages be gathered together. Who among you, who shall tell this, and shall make you to hear those things, that be the first? give they [the] witnesses of them, and be they justified, and hear they, and say, (That is the truth). (All the heathen be gathered together, and the tribes be gathered together. Who among you, who shall tell out this, and shall help us to understand the former things? bring they in their witnesses, and be they justified, or proven right, and listen they, and say, That is the truth.)

10 Verily ye be my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant(s), whom I chose; that ye know, and believe to me, and understand, for I myself am; before me is no God former, and after me shall none be. (Truly ye be my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servants, whom I chose; so that ye would know me, and believe me, and understand, that I am he; before me no God was formed, and there shall be no one after me.)

11 I am, I am the Lord, and without me is no saviour. (I am, yea, I am the Lord, and there is no other saviour besides me.)

12 I told, and saved; I made hearing, and none alien God was among you (I have told it out, and I have saved; I have made it heard, when there was no foreign, or strange, god among you). Ye be my witnesses, saith the Lord; and I am God,

13 from the beginning, I myself am, and none there is that delivereth from mine hand; I shall work, and who shall destroy it? (yea, from the beginning, I am he, and there is no one who taketh anything from my hand; I shall do my work, and who shall be able to destroy it?)

14 The Lord, your again-buyer, the Holy of Israel, saith these things, For you I sent out into Babylon, and I drew down all bars, and [the] Chaldees having glory in their ships. (The Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, saith these things, For your sakes I have sent to Babylon, and I have brought down all their bars, or all their gates, and the Chaldeans having glory in their ships.)

15 I am the Lord, your Holy, your king, making Israel of nought. (I am the Lord, your Holy One, your King, making Israel out of nothing.)

16 The Lord saith these things, that gave [a] way in the sea, and a path in running waters;

17 which led out a cart, and horse, a company, and (a) strong man; they slept together, neither they shall rise again; they be all-broken as flax, and be quenched (like a wick). (who led out chariots, and horses, yea, a company of strong men; they all sleep now, or be dead, and they shall never rise again; they be all-broken like flax, and be quenched, or snuffed out, like a wick.)

18 Think ye not on the former things, and behold ye not (on the) old things.

19 Lo! I make new things, and now those shall begin to be made; soothly ye shall know them. I shall set [a] way in (the) desert, and floods in a land without (a) way.

20 And a beast of the field shall glorify me, (the) dragons and ostriches shall glorify me; for I gave waters in desert, and floods in the land without (a) way, that I should give drink to my people, to my chosen people.

21 I formed this people to me, it shall tell my praising. (I formed this people for myself, and they shall tell out my praises.)

22 Jacob, thou calledest not me to help; and thou, Israel, travailedest not for me. (Yet Jacob, thou hast not called upon me for help; yea, Israel, thou hast not laboured for me.)

23 Thou offeredest not to me the ram of thy burnt sacrifice, and thou glorifiedest not me with thy slain sacrifices. I made not thee to serve in offering, neither I gave to thee travail in incense. (Thou hast not offered me the ram of thy burnt sacrifice, and thou hast not glorified me with thy slain sacrifices. And I did not ask thee to serve me with offerings, nor did I ask thee to offer incense to me.)

24 Thou boughtest not to me sweet smelling spicery for silver, and thou filledest not me with [the] fatness of thy slain sacrifices; nevertheless thou madest me to serve in thy sins, thou gavest travail to me in thy wickednesses. (Thou hast not brought me sweet smelling spices with thy silver, and thou hast not fulfilled, or satisfied, me/and thou hast not filled me with the fatness of thy slain sacrifices; nevertheless thou hast burdened me with thy sins, and thou hast given me trials and tribulation with thy wickednesses.)

Isaiah 43:4-24 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 43

Is this chapter the Lord comforts his own people, under their afflictions, with many precious promises; asserts his deity against the idols of the nations; promises deliverance from Babylon, and a greater redemption than that; one branch of which is forgiveness of sin; and closes the chapter with a prediction of the destruction of the Jews by the Romans, for their iniquities. The Lord claims his interest in his people, not only on the foot of creation, but of redemption and calling, and promises them his presence in the midst of afflictions, Isa 43:1,2, puts them in mind of what he had done for them; and assures them of future layouts, as the effect of his unchangeable love to them, Isa 43:3,4 and promises the conversion of their seed and offspring in the several parts of the world, Isa 43:5-7 then challenges the Heathen nations to give such proofs of the deity of their idols as he was capable of giving of his, as his people were witnesses, taken from his eternity and immutability, as the alone Jehovah, and from his omniscience and omnipotence, Isa 43:8-13, after which the destruction of Babylon is prophesied of, and the redemption of his people out of it; which they are encouraged to believe from his being Jehovah, their Sanctifier, Creator, and King; and from what he had done formerly for them, when he brought them out of Egypt, Isa 43:14-17, and which yet was not to be mentioned or remembered, in comparison of what he would do in the world, a new thing, redemption by the Messiah, and the conversion of the Gentiles to the glory of his grace, Isa 43:18-21, the sins of omission and commission the people of God had been guilty of are mentioned, which are freely pardoned for Christ's sake, Isa 43:22-25 when the body and bulk of the Jewish nation were given up to destruction, because of their sins, Isa 43:26-28.