HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1011
ISAIAH 44
page 641
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First I predicted your rescue,
then I saved you and proclaimed it
to the world.
No foreign god has ever done this.
You are witnesses that I am the
only God,”
says the Lord.
“From eternity to eternity I am God.
No one can snatch anyone out of
my hand.
No one can undo what I have done.”
The LORD’s Promise of Victory
14 This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
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“For your sakes I will send an army against
Babylon,
forcing the Babylonians* to flee in those
ships they are so proud of.
I am the Lord, your Holy One,
Israel’s Creator and King.
I am the Lord, who opened a way through
the waters,
making a dry path through the sea.
I called forth the mighty army of Egypt
with all its chariots and horses.
I drew them beneath the waves, and they
drowned,
their lives snuffed out like a smoldering
candlewick.
“But forget all that—
it is nothing compared to what I am going
to do.
For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not
see it?
I will make a pathway through the
wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
The wild animals in the fields will
thank me,
the jackals and owls, too,
for giving them water in the desert.
Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland
so my chosen people can be refreshed.
I have made Israel for myself,
and they will someday honor me before
the whole world.
“But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask
for my help.
You have grown tired of me, O Israel!
You have not brought me sheep or goats for
burnt offerings.
You have not honored me with sacrifices,
though I have not burdened and
wearied you
43:14 Or Chaldeans. 43:28 The Hebrew term used here refers
to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord,
either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
44:2 Hebrew Jeshurun, a term of endearment for Israel.
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with requests for grain offerings and
frankincense.
You have not brought me fragrant calamus
or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices.
Instead, you have burdened me with
your sins
and wearied me with your faults.
“I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins
for my own sake
and will never think of them again.
Let us review the situation together,
and you can present your case to prove
your innocence.
From the very beginning, your first ancestor
sinned against me;
all your leaders broke my laws.
That is why I have disgraced your priests;
I have decreed complete destruction*
for Jacob
and shame for Israel.
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“But now, listen to me, Jacob my
servant,
Israel my chosen one.
The Lord who made you and helps
you says:
Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant,
O dear Israel,* my chosen one.
For I will pour out water to quench
your thirst
and to irrigate your parched fields.
And I will pour out my Spirit on your
descendants,
and my blessing on your children.
They will thrive like watered grass,
like willows on a riverbank.
Some will proudly claim, ‘I belong to
the Lord.’
Others will say, ‘I am a descendant
of Jacob.’
Some will write the Lord’s name on
their hands
and will take the name of Israel as
their own.”
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• Peace
I S A I A H 43:2
If you were navigating in strange waters
or tracking through the wilderness, you
would feel at peace if a competent
navigator were with you. As we move
through spiritual territory that’s frightening, new to us, or full of trouble, what a
comfort and support to have the Lord
God, creator of peace, walking with us.
He knows the way!