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Isaiah 43 · a question people ask

"Don’t remember the former things" (43:18). What is Israel being told?

In the text

The verse doesn't say which former things it means. Just before, the words are introduced by "The LORD, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters" (43:16). Then: "Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it?" (43:18-19) (tap remember, new). The book says the other too: "Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other" (46:9), with the same Hebrew verb, and the same word for former things, rishon, which the chapter on Isaiah 41 studies. And near its end: "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind" (65:17). Isaiah has remember and former things together in these three verses only, and what stands beside the words differs: in 43:19, "Behold, I will do a new thing"; in 46:9, "for I am God"; in 65:17, "I create new heavens and a new earth". In this chapter, too, the nations are asked who among them can "show us former things" (43:9). The book doesn't say in so many words how these verses fit together, and these notes don't choose a way.

The verses

“The LORD, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters, who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick) says: “Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:16-19 · World English Bible
“Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me.”
Isaiah 46:9 · World English Bible
““For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.”
Isaiah 65:17 · World English Bible
“Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled. Who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified, or let them hear, and say, “That is true.””
Isaiah 43:9 · 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