Isaiah 43-44

Complete Jewish Bible

43 But now this is what Adonai says,
he who created you, Ya‘akov,
he who formed you, Isra’el:
“Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you;
I am calling you by your name; you are mine.
² When you pass through water, I will be with you;
when you pass through rivers, they will not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire, you will not be scorched —
the flame will not burn you.
³ For I am Adonai, your God,
the Holy One of Isra’el, your Savior —
I have given Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and S’va for you.
⁴ Because I regard you as valued and honored,
and because I love you.
For you I will give people,
nations in exchange for your life.
⁵ Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
I will bring your descendants from the east,
and I will gather you from the west;
⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Don’t hold them back!
Bring my sons from far away,
and my daughters from the ends of the earth,
⁷ everyone who bears my name,
whom I created for my glory —
I formed him, yes, I made him.’”

⁸ Bring forward the people who are blind but have eyes,
also the deaf who have ears.
⁹ All the nations are gathered together,
and the peoples are assembled.
Who among them can proclaim this
and reveal what happened in the past?
Let them bring their witnesses to justify themselves,
so that others, on hearing, can say, “That’s true.”

¹⁰ “You are my witnesses,” says Adonai,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you can know and trust me
and understand that I am he —
no god was produced before me,
nor will any be after me.
¹¹ I, yes I, am Adonai;
besides me there is no deliverer.
¹² I have declared, saved and proclaimed —
not some alien god among you.
Therefore you are my witnesses,”
says Adonai. “I am God.
¹³ Since days began, I have been he.
No one can deliver from my hand.
When I act, who can reverse it?”

¹⁴ Here is what Adonai, your redeemer,
the Holy One of Isra’el, says:
“For your sake I have sent [an army] to Bavel
and knocked down the fleeing Kasdim, all of them;
their songs of triumph are now lamentations.
¹⁵ I am Adonai, your Holy One,
the Creator of Isra’el, your King.”

¹⁶ Here is what Adonai says,
who made a way in the sea,
a path through the raging waves;
¹⁷ who led out chariot and horse,
the army in its strength —
they lay down, never to rise again,
snuffed out and quenched like a wick:
¹⁸ “Stop dwelling on past events
and brooding over times gone by;
¹⁹ I am doing something new;
it’s springing up — can’t you see it?
I am making a road in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland.
²⁰ The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
because I put water in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland,
for my chosen people to drink,
²¹ the people I formed for myself,
so that they would proclaim my praise.
²² But you haven’t called on me, Ya‘akov;
because you have grown weary of me, Isra’el.
²³ You have not brought me sheep for your burnt offerings,
you have not honored me with your sacrifices.
I didn’t burden you by requiring grain offerings.
or weary you by demanding frankincense.
²⁴ You have not spent money to buy me sweet cane
or filled me with the fat of your sacrifices.
Instead, you have burdened me with your sins
and wearied me with your crimes.
²⁵ I, yes I, am the one who blots out
your offenses for my own sake;
I will not remember your sins.
²⁶ Remind me when we’re in court together —
tell your side, make the case that you are right.
²⁷ Your first father sinned,
and your spokesmen rebelled against me.
²⁸ Therefore I repudiated the officials of the sanctuary,
delivered Ya‘akov to the curse of destruction,
and subjected Isra’el to scorn.

44 “Now listen, Ya‘akov my servant,
Isra’el whom I have chosen:
² Thus says Adonai, who made you,
formed you in the womb, and will help you:
Don’t be afraid, Ya‘akov my servant,
Yeshurun, whom I have chosen.
³ For I will pour water on the thirsty land
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit on your descendants,
my blessing on your offspring.
⁴ They will spring up among the grass
like willows on the riverbanks.
⁵ One will say, ‘I belong to Adonai.’
Another will be called by the name of Ya‘akov.
Yet another will write that he belongs to Adonai.
and adopt the surname Isra’el.”

⁶ Thus says Adonai, Isra’el’s King
and Redeemer, Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“I am the first, and I am the last;
besides me there is no God.
⁷ Who is like me? Let him speak out!
Let him show me clearly what has been happening
since I set up the eternal people;
let him foretell future signs and events.
⁸ Don’t be frightened, don’t be afraid —
Didn’t I tell you this long ago?
I foretold it, and you are my witnesses.
Is there any God besides me?
There is no other Rock — I know of none.”

⁹ All idol-makers amount to nothing;
their precious productions profit no one;
and their witnesses, to their own shame,
neither see nor understand.
¹⁰ Who would fashion a god or cast an image
that profits no one anything?
¹¹ All involved will be ashamed,
but more than anyone else, the people who made them.
Let them all be assembled, let them stand up;
let them fear and be shamed together.

¹² A blacksmith makes a tool over burning coals;
with his strong arm he shapes it with hammers.
But when he gets hungry, his strength fails;
if he doesn’t drink water, he grows tired.

¹³ A carpenter takes his measurements,
sketches the shape with a stylus,
planes the wood, checks it with calipers,
and carves it into the shape of a man;
and, since it is honored like a man,
of course it has to live in a house.
¹⁴ He goes to chop down cedars;
he takes an evergreen and an oak;
he especially tends one tree in the forest,
plants a pine for the rain to nourish.
¹⁵ In time, when it’s ready for use as fuel,
he takes some of it to keep himself warm
and burns some more to bake bread.
Then he makes a god and worships it,
carves it into an idol and falls down before it.
¹⁶ So half of it he burns in the fire;
with that half he roasts meat and eats his fill;
he warms himself; says, “It feels so good,
getting warm while watching the flames!”
¹⁷ With the rest of the log he fashions a god,
a carved image, then falls down before it;
he worships it and prays to it.
“Save me,” he says, “for you are my god!”

¹⁸ Such people know nothing, understand nothing.
Their eyes are sealed shut, so that they can’t see;
their hearts too, so they can’t understand.
¹⁹ Not one thinks to himself or has the knowledge
or the discernment to say,
“I burned half of it in the fire,
baked bread on its coals, roasted meat and ate it.
Should I now make the rest an abomination?
Should I prostrate myself to a tree trunk?”
²⁰ He is relying on ashes!
A deceived heart has led him astray;
so that now he won’t save himself, just won’t say,
“This thing in my hand is a fraud!”

²¹ “Keep these matters in mind, Ya‘akov,
for you, Isra’el, are my servant.
I formed you, you are my own servant;
Isra’el, don’t forget me.
²² Like a thick cloud, I wipe away your offenses;
like a cloud, your sins.
Come back to me, for I have redeemed you.”

²³ Sing, you heavens, for Adonai has done it!
Shout, you depths of the earth!
Mountains, break out into song,
along with every tree in the forest!
For Adonai has redeemed Ya‘akov;
he glorifies himself in Isra’el.

²⁴ Here is what Adonai says, your Redeemer,
he who formed you in the womb:
“I am Adonai, who makes all things,
who stretched out the heavens all alone,
who spread out the earth all by myself.
²⁵ I frustrate false prophets and their omens,
I make fools of diviners,
I drive back the sages
and make their wisdom look silly.
²⁶ I confirm my servants’ prophecies
and make my messengers’ plans succeed.
I say of Yerushalayim: ‘She will be lived in,’
of the cities of Y’hudah, ‘They will be rebuilt;
I will restore their ruins.’
²⁷ I say to the deep sea, ‘Dry up!
I will make your streams run dry.’
²⁸ I say of Koresh, ‘He is my shepherd,
he will do everything I want.
He will say of Yerushalayim,
“You will be rebuilt,”
and of the temple,
“Your foundation will be laid.”’”