| Chapter 43 |
1 | But now thus says Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel: Don't be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine.
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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.
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3 | For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
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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.
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5 | Don't be afraid; for I am with you: I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west;
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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 earth;
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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.
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8 | Bring forth the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.
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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.
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10 | You are my witnesses, says Yahweh, 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.
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11 | I, even I, am Yahweh; and besides me there is no savior.
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12 | I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed; and there was no strange [god] among you: therefore you are my witnesses, says Yahweh, and I am God.
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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?
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14 | Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.
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15 | I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.
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16 | Thus says Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
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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):
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18 | Don't remember the former things, neither consider the things of old.
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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.
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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,
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21 | the people which I formed for myself, that they might set forth my praise.
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22 | Yet you have not called on me, Jacob; but you have been weary of me, Israel.
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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.
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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.
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25 | I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
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26 | Put me in remembrance; let us plead together: set you forth [your cause], that you may be justified.
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27 | Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me.
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28 | Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel a reviling.
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