Isaiah 43:11

I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 43:11-13. Besides me there is no saviour — None that can and does save his worshippers: wherein is implied, that the false gods were not only weak and unable to save those that trusted in them, but also were their destroyers, as being the great cause of their ruin. I have declared, and have saved — I first foretold your deliverance, and then effected it. And l have showed, when there was no strange god, &c. — Rather, I made it known; nor was it any strange god. So Bishop Lowth. This divine prescience and predicting of future events is thus repeatedly insisted upon, because it is the principal argument used here, and in chap. 41., to determine this controversy between Jehovah and idols. Yea, before the day was — Before all time: or, which is the same, from all eternity. I am he — I am God, and have proved myself to be so. None can deliver out of my hands — None of those that are called gods can save them whom I will destroy. Therefore they are impotent, and consequently no gods. I will work, and who shall let it? — Nor can they hinder me in any other work which I resolve to do.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

43:8-13 Idolaters are called to appear in defence of their idols. Those who make them, and trust in them, are like unto them. They have the shape and faculties of men; but they have not common sense. But God's people know the power of his grace, the sweetness of his comforts, the kind care of his providence, and the truth of his promise. All servants of God can give such an account of what he has wrought in them, and done for them, as may lead others to know and believe his power, truth, and love

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I, even I, am the Lord - The repetition of the pronoun 'I' makes it emphatic. The design is, to affirm that there was no other being to whom the name 'Yahweh' pertained. There was no other one who had the attributes which the name involved; there was, therefore, no other God. On the meanins of the word Yahweh, see the note at Isaiah 1:2.

And beside me there is no Saviour - There is no one who can deliver from oppression, and captivity, and exile, such as the Jews suffered in Babylon; there is no one but he who can save from sin, and from hell. All salvation, therefore, must come from God; and if we obtain deliverance from temporal ills, or from eternal death, we must seek it from him.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. Lord—Jehovah.

saviour—temporally, from Babylon: eternally, from sin and hell (Ho 13:4; Ac 4:12). The same titles as are applied to God are applied to Jesus.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

That can and doth save his worshippers: whereby he implies that the false gods were not only weak, and unable to save their people, but also were the destroyers of their people, as being the great cause of their ruin.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I, even I, am the Lord,.... Jehovah, the self-existing, eternal, and immutable Being; this is doubled for the confirmation of it, and to exclude all others:

and besides me there is no Saviour; either in a temporal or spiritual sense; the gods of the Heathens could not save them out of their present troubles, and much less save them with an everlasting salvation; none but God can do this, and this is a proof that Christ is God, since none but God can be a Saviour.

Geneva Study Bible

I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. I, even I, am the Lord] I, I am Jehovah; see on ch. Isaiah 42:8. there is no saviour] see on Isaiah 43:3.

Isaiah 43:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The address now closes by holding up once more the object and warrant of faith. "I am Jehovah; and beside me there is no Savour. I have proclaimed and brought salvation, and given to perceive, and there was no other god among you: and ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and I am God. Even from the day onwards I am so; and there is no deliverer out of my hand: I act, and who can turn it back?" The proper name "Jehovah" is used here (Isaiah 43:13) as a name indicating essence: "I and no other am the absolutely existing and living One," i.e., He who proves His existence by His acts, and indeed by His saving acts. מושׁיע and Jehovah are kindred epithets here; just as in the New Testament the name Jehovah sets, as it were, but only to rise again in the name Jesus, in which it is historically fulfilled. Jehovah's previous self-manifestation in history furnished a pledge of the coming redemption. The two synonyms הגּדתּי and השׁמעתּ have הושׁעתּי in the midst. He proclaimed salvation, brought salvation, and in the new afflictions was still ever preaching salvation, without there having been any zâr, i.e., any strange or other god in Israel (Deuteronomy 32:16; see above, Isaiah 17:10), who proved his existence in any such way, or, in fact, gave any sign of existence at all. This they must themselves confess; and therefore (Vav in sense equivalent to ergo, as in Isaiah 40:18, Isaiah 40:25) He, and He alone, is El, the absolutely mighty One, i.e., God. And from this time forth He is so, i.e., He, and He only, displays divine nature and divine life. There is no reason for taking מיּום in the sense of יום מהיות, "from the period when the day, i.e., time, existed" (as the lxx, Jerome, Stier, etc., render it). Both the gam (also) and the future 'eph‛al (I will work) require the meaning supported by Ezekiel 48:35, "from the day onwards," i.e., from this time forth (syn. לפני־יום, Isaiah 48:7). The concluding words give them to understand, that the predicted salvation is coming in the way of judgment. Jehovah will go forward with His work; and if He who is the same yesterday and today sets this before Him, who can turn it back, so that it shall remain unaccomplished? The prophecy dies away, like the massâ' Bâbhel with its epilogue in Isaiah 14:27. In the first half (Isaiah 42:1-17) Jehovah introduced His servant, the medium of salvation, and proclaimed the approaching work of salvation, at which all the world had reason to rejoice. The second half (Isaiah 42:18-43:13) began with reproaching, and sought to bring Israel through this predicted salvation to reflect upon itself, and also upon its God, the One God, to whom there was no equal.