1 But now this is what the LORD says, he who created you, Jacob, he who shaped you, Israel: "Have no fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you belong to me.
2 When you cross through the waters, I will be with you; when you cross the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through fire, you will not be scorched, and the flame will not set you alight.
3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I hand over Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
4 Because you are precious in my sight, you are honored and I love you, I hand over people in exchange for you, and nations in return for your life.
5 Have no fear, for I am with you; from the east I will bring your offspring, and from the west I will gather you.
6 I will tell the north, 'Hand them over!' and the south, 'Do not hold them back! Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth,
7 everyone who bears my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I shaped, yes, whom I made.'"
8 Lead out the people who are blind though they have eyes, who are deaf though they have ears.
9 All the nations have assembled together, and the peoples have gathered. Which of them can announce this and let us hear the former things? Let them produce their witnesses to prove them right, or let them listen and say, "That is true."
10 "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "you and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and trust me and grasp that I am he. Before me no god was formed, and after me there will be none.
11 I, I am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.
12 It was I who announced and saved and made it heard, and there was no foreign god among you. You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and I am God.
13 From the first day on I am he; no one can snatch anything from my hand. When I act, who can turn it back?"
14 This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I send to Babylon and bring all of them down as fugitives, the Chaldeans in the ships in which they rejoiced.
15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel's Creator, your King."
16 This is what the LORD says, who opened a way through the sea and a path through the mighty waters,
17 who led out chariot and horse, army and strong man together; they lay down and did not get up again, they were snuffed out, put out like a wick:
18 "Do not dwell on the earlier things, and pay no attention to what is long past.
19 See, I am doing something new; even now it is sprouting up; do you not recognize it? I will make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I put water in the wilderness, rivers in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I shaped for myself so that they would recount my praise.
22 Yet it is not me you have called on, Jacob; rather, you have grown tired of me, Israel.
23 You have not brought me sheep for your burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices. I have not loaded you down with grain offerings, nor tired you out with frankincense.
24 You have not bought me fragrant cane with silver, nor filled me with the fat of your sacrifices. Instead you have loaded me down with your sins, you have tired me out with your iniquities.
25 I, I am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake, and your sins I will not remember.
26 Remind me, let us go to court together; you state your case, so that you may be proved in the right.
27 Your first father sinned, and your spokesmen rebelled against me.
28 So I will defile the princes of the sanctuary, and I will hand Jacob over to destruction and Israel to scorn."