The big picture
Israel, God's people also called Jacob after their ancestor, hears reassurance after a charge of blindness. The God who formed them claims them as his own and promises to gather them from every direction. They are to witness that he alone saves. A new rescue from Babylon, the foreign power named as their foe, will surpass their old expectations. Yet the promise does not hide their failure to call on him. Forgiveness rests on God's own purpose, while their inherited and present wrongs remain honestly named.
In this chapter
- The Named People Are Gathered Through Danger Isaiah 43:1-7
The people need not fear their Maker.
- The People Must Witness to the Only Saviour Isaiah 43:8-13
Blind people with eyes and deaf people with ears are summoned alongside the gathered nations.
- God Opens a New Way Home Isaiah 43:14-21
God announces action against Babylon and its Chaldean people for Israel's sake.
- Forgotten Worship Meets Unearned Forgiveness Isaiah 43:22-28
God charges the people with failing to call on him and growing weary of him.
Central truth
God claims and gathers his people as witnesses to his sole saving power, offering a new rescue and forgiveness despite their failure to honour him.
Scripture beside the summary
Isaiah · King James Version · 28Isaiah 43:1-7
The Named People Are Gathered Through Danger
The people need not fear their Maker. He has rescued them and called them by name. They belong to him. Passing through water and fire will not separate them from his protecting presence. He names Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba, southern lands, as an exchange for their rescue. The language values his people dearly while placing other nations within the cost of their deliverance. He promises to gather sons and daughters from east, west, north, and south. Everyone bearing his name is called back as one created for his glory.
In everyday life
A family-tracing volunteer reads a missing child's full name into the receiver and hears a relative recognise it. She begins linking separated family members across several regions, refusing to let distance turn them into anonymous cases. Being known anchors the search. God's promise includes sovereign rescue through danger and the costly movement of nations.
Notice
Isaiah 43:1 The call uses the people's name and claims them as God's own. Their reassurance begins with a relationship he created, before any account of their ability to escape.
Isaiah 43:1-7
King James Version1But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
2When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
3For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
4Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
5Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;
6I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
7Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
Isaiah 43:8-13
The People Must Witness to the Only Saviour
Blind people with eyes and deaf people with ears are summoned alongside the gathered nations. The nations must produce witnesses for their gods' claims about events. God names his own people as his witnesses and chosen servant. Through what he has announced and done, they can know that he alone is God. None was formed before him, and none will follow after. He alone saves and no one can overturn his act. Their role is to testify to a rescue they received, despite the blindness already charged against them.
In everyday life
A passenger gives evidence about the crew member who pulled him from danger. He cannot explain every technical detail, but he can identify who came, what was said, and how he reached safety. His testimony concerns received help. Their witness claims there is no other God who saves, not merely one brave helper.
Notice
Isaiah 43:10 The witnesses are also the servant God chose. Their testimony grows from his dealings with them, not from standing outside events as neutral experts on every possible god.
Isaiah 43:8-13
King James Version8Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.
9Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.
10Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
11I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
12I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.
13Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
Isaiah 43:14-21
God Opens a New Way Home
God announces action against Babylon and its Chaldean people for Israel's sake. He names himself their Creator and King. He recalls making a path through the sea and extinguishing the pursuing army. Then he tells the people not to confine their attention to former acts. A new work is springing up: a road through wilderness and rivers in desert ground. Even wild creatures benefit from the water supplied for his chosen people. The same rescuer is active, but the coming way home is not limited to repeating the shape of the old one.
In everyday life
A resettlement planner opens a new overland route for families whose former ferry crossing no longer exists. She places water points along the dry stretch and begins the first guided return. Past help has not fixed the only possible shape of future help. A planner finds a usable path; the promised rivers require the work of the Creator.
Notice
Isaiah 43:19 The promised way runs through wilderness while rivers appear in the desert. The new rescue is described as fresh provision, not merely a memory of an earlier crossing.
Isaiah 43:14-21
King James Version14Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
15I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.
16Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
17Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.
18Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
19Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
20The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
21This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
Isaiah 43:22-28
Forgotten Worship Meets Unearned Forgiveness
God charges the people with failing to call on him and growing weary of him. They have not honoured him with the offerings named, though he has not worn them out with demands. Instead, their sins have burdened him. He declares that he himself wipes away their wrongs for his own sake and will not hold them in memory. He invites them to present their case. Their first ancestor and their teachers also sinned, and sacred leaders have faced disgrace. Forgiveness does not rest on a spotless family past or an adequate religious payment.
In everyday life
A guarantor reviews a relative's unpaid obligations and sees that the expected contributions never arrived. He chooses to cancel the claim without pretending the record shows faithful payment. Mercy and an honest account remain together. Cancelled payments leave other wrongs untouched; God says he will wipe away their sins.
Notice
Isaiah 43:25 God gives his own sake as the reason for blotting out wrong. Their claim cannot earn this mercy. They have not kept the account in balance.
Isaiah 43:22-28
King James Version22But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.
23Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
24Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
25I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
26Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
27Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.
28Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Isaiah 43:1 begins with “But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy…”
Where the chapter turns
Isaiah 43:13 forms a natural hinge: “Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?”
The final note
Isaiah 43:28 leaves the reader with “Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words LORD, Israel, people, formed, Holy, Jacob help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- ransom
- A price or exchange securing release from danger or captivity.
- tow
- Loose plant fibre that catches fire and burns away quickly.
- let
- Prevent or hinder in this older use, rather than allow.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
