Isaiah 43

1But now the LORD, your Creator, Jacob, the one who shaped you, Israel, says this: Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I called you by your own name; you belong to me. 2When you go through the waters, I will be beside you; through the rivers, they will not flood over you. When you walk in the fire, you will not be scorched; the flame will not burn you up. 3For I am the LORD your God; I am the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as the price of your freedom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4You are dear in my sight; you are held in honor, and I love you. So I will hand over human lives for you, whole peoples for your life. 5Do not be afraid, for I am at your side. From the east I will lead your descendants back; from the west I will gather you in. 6I will tell the north, “Release them!” and the south, “Do not keep them back! Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the farthest edge of the earth, 7all who are called by my name, each one I created for my glory, each one I formed, yes, each one I made.” 8Bring out the blind people who have eyes, the deaf who have ears. 9All the nations are gathered together; the peoples have assembled. Which of them could announce this, or make us hear the former things? Let them produce their witnesses and be shown to be in the right; let people hear them and say, “It is the truth.” 10You are my witnesses, declares the LORD, and my servant, the one I have chosen, so that you will come to know me, put your trust in me, and grasp that I am he. Before me no god was ever shaped, and none will come after me.

11It is I, I who am the LORD; there is no savior but me. 12It was I who told it beforehand, I who saved, I who made it heard; no foreign god was among you. You are my witnesses, declares the LORD, and I am God. 13From the first day on, I am he; there is no one who can rescue from my power. I work, and who can undo it?

14The LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says this: For your sake I have sent an enemy against Babylon. I will bring all of them down in flight, the Chaldeans, in the ships that once rang with their shouts. 15I am the LORD, your Holy One, who created Israel, your King.

16The LORD says this, the one who makes a road through the sea, a path through surging waters, 17who brought out chariot and horse, army and warrior together: they lay down and did not get up; they went out, quenched like a wick: 18Do not call to mind the former things, or brood over the things of long ago. 19See, I am about to do something new; even now it is sprouting. Do you not recognize it? I will cut a road through the wilderness and make rivers flow in the barren land. 20Even the wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have put water in the wilderness, rivers in the barren land, to give drink to my people, my chosen ones, 21the people I formed to be my own; they will recount my praises.

22Yet it was not on me that you called, Jacob; you have grown tired of me, Israel. 23No sheep for burnt offerings have you brought me; with your sacrifices you have given me no honor. I laid no burden of grain offerings on you; I did not make you weary for the sake of frankincense. 24You have not spent silver to buy me fragrant cane or filled me with the fat of your sacrifices. Instead you have made me toil like a servant under your sins and worn me out with your guilt.

25I, yes I, am the one who wipes out your rebellious acts for my own sake; your sins I will not keep in mind. 26Remind me; let us take this to court together. Lay out your account, so that you may be declared in the right. 27Your earliest ancestor sinned, and those who spoke for you rebelled against me. 28So I treated the leaders of the sanctuary as unholy; I handed Jacob over to be destroyed and Israel to be mocked.