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10 You are my witnesses[a]—oracle of the Lord
    my servant whom I have chosen
To know and believe in me
    and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
    and after me there shall be none.
11 I, I am the Lord;
    there is no savior but me.
12 It is I who declared, who saved,
    who announced, not some strange god among you;
You are my witnesses—oracle of the Lord.
    I am God,

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Footnotes

  1. 43:10 You are my witnesses: Israel’s role as chosen people now takes a new turn as they are given the active role of bearing witness before humankind to the Lord’s role in history by proclaiming events beforehand and bringing them to pass; see also 44:8. The false gods, on the other hand, cannot produce such witnesses (v. 9; cf. 44:9). I am he: this formula of self-identification, repeated in vv. 13 and 25, is used here to support the assertion that the Lord alone is God; see also 41:4; 46:4; 48:12; 51:12; 52:6. This expression in part may be behind the self-identification formula used by Jesus in John’s gospel (cf. Jn 8:58). Before…after: another example of the same assertion, that the Lord alone is God; see also note on 44:6.

10 “You are my witnesses,(A)” declares the Lord,
    “and my servant(B) whom I have chosen,
so that you may know(C) and believe me
    and understand that I am he.
Before me no god(D) was formed,
    nor will there be one after me.(E)
11 I, even I, am the Lord,(F)
    and apart from me there is no savior.(G)
12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
    I, and not some foreign god(H) among you.
You are my witnesses,(I)” declares the Lord, “that I am God.

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