Isaiah 43; Isaiah 44:1-23

1 But now thus says the LORD who created you, Ya`akov, and he who formed you, Yisra'el: Don't be afraid, 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 shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle on you.

3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Yisra'el, your Savior; I have given Mitzrayim as your ransom, Kush and Seva in your place.

4 Since you have been precious in my sight, [and] honorable, and I have loved you; therefore will I give men in your place, and peoples instead of your life.

5 Don't be afraid; for I am with you: I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west;

6 I will tell the north, Give up; and to the south, Don't keep back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the eretz;

7 everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.

8 Bring forth the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.

9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth.

10 You are my witnesses, says the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

11 I, even I, am the LORD; and besides me there is no savior.

12 I have declared, and I have saved, and I have shown; and there was no strange [god] among you: therefore you are my witnesses, says the LORD, and I am God.

13 Yes, since the day was I am he; and there is none who can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who can hinder it?

14 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Yisra'el: For your sake I have sent to Bavel, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Kasdim, in the ships of their rejoicing.

15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Yisra'el, your King.

16 Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;

17 who brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as a wick):

18 Don't remember the former things, neither consider the things of old.

19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

20 The animals of the field shall honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen,

21 the people which I formed for myself, that they might set forth my praise.

22 Yet you have not called on me, Ya`akov; but you have been weary of me, Yisra'el.

23 You have not brought me of your sheep for burnt offerings; neither have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense.

24 You have bought me no sweet cane with money, neither have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices; but you have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities.

25 I, even 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 plead together: set you forth [your cause], that you may be justified.

27 Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me.

28 Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Ya`akov a curse, and Yisra'el a reviling.

1 Yet now hear, Ya`akov my servant, and Yisra'el, who I have chosen:

2 Thus says the LORD who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you: Don't be afraid, Ya`akov my servant; and you, Yeshurun, whom I have chosen.

3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit on your seed, and my blessing on your offspring:

4 and they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.

5 One shall say, I am the LORD's; and another shall call [himself] by the name of Ya`akov; and another shall subscribe with his hand to the LORD, and surname [himself] by the name of Yisra'el.

6 Thus says the LORD, the King of Yisra'el, and his Redeemer, the LORD of Hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.

7 Who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and that shall happen, let them declare.

8 Don't fear, neither be afraid: haven't I declared to you of old, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don't know any Rock.

9 Those who fashion an engraved image are all of them vanity; and the things that they delight in shall not profit; and their own witnesses don't see, nor know: that they may be put to shame.

10 Who has fashioned a god, or molten an image that is profitable for nothing?

11 Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame; and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; they shall fear, they shall be put to shame together.

12 The smith [makes] an ax, and works in the coals, and fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm: yes, he is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint.

13 The carpenter stretches out a line; he marks it out with a pencil; he shapes it with planes, and he marks it out with the compasses, and shapes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.

14 He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest: he plants a fir tree, and the rain nourishes it.

15 Then shall it be for a man to burn; and he takes of it, and warms himself; yes, he kindles it, and bakes bread: yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it an engraved image, and falls down to it.

16 He burns part of it in the fire; with part of it he eats flesh; he roasts roast, and is satisfied; yes, he warms himself, and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire.

17 The residue of it he makes a god, even his engraved image; he falls down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, Deliver me; for you are my god.

18 They don't know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can't see; and their hearts, that they can't understand.

19 None calls to mind, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yes, also I have baked bread on the coals of it; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the residue of it an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?

20 He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can't deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

21 Remember these things, Ya`akov, and Yisra'el; for you are my servant: I have formed you; you are my servant: Yisra'el, you shall not be forgotten by me.

22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins: return to me; for I have redeemed you.

23 Sing, you heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, you lower parts of the eretz; break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD has redeemed Ya`akov, and will glorify himself in Yisra'el.