Isaiah 43:14-24

14 Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: `For your sake I have sent to Babylon, And caused bars to descend -- all of them, And the Chaldeans, whose song [is] in the ships.

15 I [am] Jehovah, your Holy One, Creator of Israel, your King.'

16 Thus said Jehovah, Who is giving in the sea a way, And in the strong waters a path.

17 Who is bringing forth chariot and horse, A force, even a strong one: `Together they lie down -- they rise not, They have been extinguished, As flax they have been quenched.'

18 Remember not former things, And ancient things consider not.

19 Lo, I am doing a new thing, now it springeth up, Do ye not know it? Yea, I put in a wilderness a way, In a desolate place -- floods.

20 Honour me doth the beast of the field, Dragons and daughters of an ostrich, For I have given in a wilderness waters, Floods in a desolate place, To give drink to My people -- My chosen.

21 This people I have formed for Myself, My praise they recount.

22 And Me thou hast not called, O Jacob, For thou hast been wearied of me, O Israel,

23 Thou hast not brought in to Me, The lamb of thy burnt-offerings, And [with] thy sacrifices thou hast not honoured Me, I have not caused thee to serve with a present, Nor wearied thee with frankincense.

24 Thou hast not bought for Me with money sweet cane, And [with] the fat of thy sacrifices hast not filled Me, Only -- thou hast caused Me to serve with thy sins, Thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities.

Isaiah 43:14-24 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.