Text -- Isaiah 43:14-21 (NET)

The Lord Will Do Something New

43:14 This is what the Lord says, your protector, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I send to Babylon and make them all fugitives, turning the Babylonians’ joyful shouts into mourning songs. 43:15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, the one who created Israel, your king.” 43:16 This is what the Lord says, the one who made a road through the sea, a pathway through the surging waters, 43:17 the one who led chariots and horses to destruction, together with a mighty army. They fell down, never to rise again; they were extinguished, put out like a burning wick: 43:18 “Don’t remember these earlier events; don’t recall these former events. 43:19 “Look, I am about to do something new. Now it begins to happen! Do you not recognize it? Yes, I will make a road in the desert and paths in the wilderness. 43:20 The wild animals of the desert honor me, the jackals and ostriches, because I put water in the desert and streams in the wilderness, to quench the thirst of my chosen people, 43:21 the people whom I formed for myself, so they might praise me.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 43:14

¹ tn Or “kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

³ tn Heb “and I bring down [as] fugitives all of them.”

⁴ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “as for the Babylonians, in ships their joyful shout.” This might be paraphrased, “even the Babylonians in the ships [over which] they joyfully shouted.” The point would be that the Lord caused the Babylonians to flee for safety in the ships in which they took such great pride. A slight change in vocalization yields the reading “into mourning songs,” which provides a good contrast with “joyful shout.” The prefixed bet (בְּ) would indicate identity.

NET Notes: Isa 43:15

¹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

NET Notes: Isa 43:17

¹ tn Heb “led out chariots and horses.” The words “to destruction” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The verse refers to the destruction of the Egyptians at the Red Sea.

² tn Heb “lay down”; NAB “lie prostrate together”; CEV “lie dead”; NRSV “they lie down.”

NET Notes: Isa 43:18

¹ tn Heb “the former things” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “forget all that.”

NET Notes: Isa 43:19

¹ tn Heb “sprouts up”; NASB “will spring forth.”

² tn Or “know” (KJV, ASV); NASB “be aware of”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “perceive.”

³ tn The Hebrew texts has “streams,” probably under the influence of v. 20. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has נתיבות (“paths”).

NET Notes: Isa 43:21

¹ tn Heb “[so] they might declare my praise.”