Isaiah 43:12

Hebrew Bible

10 “You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “my servant whom I have chosen so that you may consider and believe in me, and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and none will outlive me. 11 I, I am the Lord, and there is no deliverer besides me. 12 I decreed and delivered and proclaimed, and there was no other god among you. You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “that I am God. 13 From this day forward I am he; no one can deliver from my power; I will act, and who can prevent it?” 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.

Jonathan Isaiah 43:12

Targum

10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant, the Messiah, in whom is my delight, in order that ye may know, and that ye may believe in me, and understand that I am He who was from the beginning; yea, ages after ages are mine, and beside me there is no god. 11 I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no saviour. 12 I, I have declared unto Abraham your father what would come to pass; I, I redeemed you out of Egypt, as I swore to him between the pieces; and I, I have made you to hear the doctrine of my law from Sinai, and ye are still alive, when there was no strange god among you; yea, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. 13 Yea, from eternity I am He; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will do it, and who shall turn it back? 14 Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, Because of your sins I led you captive to Babylon; but I will prostrate all of them with their oars, yea, the Chaldeans in the ships of which they boast.

 Notes and References

"... The reassurance to Israel is framed as a promise of a new exodus (verses 2, 8, 12) and the use of this typology is different from that in 27:1. The reason for this difference is that Babylon, not Rome, is at issue in the present context (verse 14, compare 44:27). Notably, the Messiah appears here as a witness (verse 10) as if he already existed in personal terms. The connection between 'servant' and 'branch' (Targum Isaiah 4:2 in comparison with the Masoretic Text) is already made in Zechariah 33, but the idea of the messiah's personal pre-existence seems to be an Aramaic development. In that reference is also made to the Messiah in chapter, there is also literary justification for invoking him as a witness here, but only on the supposition that he is already active and not purely an eschatological figure. The reference to the oath to Abraham 'between the pieces' (verse 12) evidently refers to Genesis 15:17, and belongs to the generally Targumic understanding of Abraham as a figure of promise. (Curiously, there is no mention of the Aqedah here as in Targum Micah 7:20) ..."

Chilton, Bruce D. The Isaiah Targum (p. 85) M. Glazier, 1987

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.