Isaiah 43 · a question people ask

The LORD says, "I will not remember your sins" (43:25), and at the chapter's end, "I will make Jacob a curse" (43:28). How do these stand together?

In the text

The chapter sets them side by side and doesn't explain how they fit. In order: "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins" (43:25). "Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare your case, that you may be justified" (43:26). "Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me" (43:27). "Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel an insult" (43:28) (tap curse). The verses don't name the first father, the teachers or the princes, and these notes don't. These notes set the verses in the chapter's order and don't say more than they say.

The verses

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins. Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare your case, that you may be justified. Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me. Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel an insult.””
Isaiah 43:25-28 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 43

Isaiah 43: I have called you by your name

In Hebrew, the verb of "he who formed you, Israel" (43:1) is the verb of "Before me there was no God formed" (43:10). And the LORD's "I have not burdened you … nor wearied you" (43:23) comes back turned around, "you have burdened me … You have wearied me" (43:24), just before "I will not remember your sins" (43:25).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions