# Isaiah 43.10-11 **Book:** [Isaiah](/codex/isaiah-the-prophet/) · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT ## Verse **ASV:** > 10. Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11. I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour. (Isaiah 43:10-11, ASV) **WEB:** > 10. “You are my witnesses,” says Yahweh, “With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me. 11. I myself am Yahweh; and besides me there is no savior. (Isaiah 43:10-11, WEB) **KJV:** > 10. Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. (Isaiah 43:10-11, KJV) **YLT:** > 10. Ye [are] My witnesses, an affirmation of Jehovah, And My servant whom I have chosen, So that ye know and give credence to Me, And understand that I [am] He, Before Me there was no God formed, And after Me there is none. 11. I, I [am] Jehovah, And besides Me there is no saviour. (Isaiah 43:10-11, YLT) ## Immediate context (±2 verses) **ASV:** > 8. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. 9. 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, It is truth. 10. Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11. I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour. 12. I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed; and there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and I am God. 13. Yea, since the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who can hinder it? (Isaiah 43:8-13, ASV) **WEB:** > 8. Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears. 9. 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.” 10. “You are my witnesses,” says Yahweh, “With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me. 11. I myself am Yahweh; and besides me there is no savior. 12. I have declared, I have saved, and I have shown; and there was no strange god among you. Therefore you are my witnesses”, says Yahweh, “and I am God. 13. Yes, since the day was I am he; and there is no one who can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?” (Isaiah 43:8-13, WEB) **KJV:** > 8. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. 9. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. 10. Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. 12. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God. 13. Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it? (Isaiah 43:8-13, KJV) **YLT:** > 8. He brought out a blind people who have eyes, And deaf ones who have ears. 9. All the nations have been gathered together, And the peoples are assembled, Who among them declareth this, And former things causeth us to hear? They give their witnesses, And they are declared righteous, And they hear and say, 'Truth.' 10. Ye [are] My witnesses, an affirmation of Jehovah, And My servant whom I have chosen, So that ye know and give credence to Me, And understand that I [am] He, Before Me there was no God formed, And after Me there is none. 11. I, I [am] Jehovah, And besides Me there is no saviour. 12. I, I declared, and saved, and proclaimed, And there is no stranger with you, And ye [are] My witnesses, an affirmation of Jehovah, And I [am] God. 13. Even from the day I [am] He, And there is no deliverer from My hand, I work, and who doth turn it back? (Isaiah 43:8-13, YLT) ## Setting - **Speaker:** YHWH speaking through Isaiah, in a courtroom-trial-of-the-nations setting (extending from Isaiah 41-48) - **Audience:** Israel (the *"witnesses"* and *"chosen servant"* whose history is YHWH's evidence) + the watching pagan nations whose idol-gods are being put on trial - **Location:** Jerusalem and Judah; the prophetic context contemplates exilic / restoration audience - **Time period:** prophetic ministry c. 740-680 BC; chapters 40-55 (Deutero-Isaiah on the JEDP-style critical view, or the same Isaiah on the traditional unity view) speak to exilic and restoration audience - **Narrative context:** the **courtroom-of-the-nations** section of Isaiah (chs. 41-48), where YHWH puts the pagan idol-gods on trial. The structure: YHWH challenges the idol-gods to predict the future, to deliver their devotees, to demonstrate they are real. The idols cannot respond; they are mute, immobile, impotent. YHWH then declares His own credentials: He alone predicts and fulfills (43:9, 12); He alone saves (43:11); He alone is God (43:10). Verses 10-11 are the climactic monotheistic self-disclosure. The *"I AM HE"* formula (Hebrew *ani hu*, LXX *egō eimi*) becomes the divine covenant-name self-designation that Jesus directly appropriates in His own *egō eimi* claims (John 8:24, 28, 58, rich hubs [John 8.22-24](/codex/john-8-22-24/) / [John 8.28](/codex/john-8-28/)). The *"no saviour besides me"* claim becomes the OT-monotheistic anchor that the NT then applies to Jesus (Acts 4:12, *"neither is there salvation in any other"*). ## Theological reading Isaiah 43:10-11 is **the OT's most concentrated monotheistic self-disclosure**, and the principal background for both Jewish-monotheistic tradition and the Christological "I AM" claims of Jesus in John's Gospel. The verses combine three theologically loaded claims: (a) *"I am he"* (Hebrew *ani hu*, the YHWH covenant-name self-designation); (b) *"before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me"* (absolute monotheism, no temporal or generational God-multiplicity); (c) *"I am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour"* (YHWH's exclusive salvific role). ### The "I AM HE" formula, *ani hu / egō eimi* The Hebrew *ani hu* (lit. "I [am] he") is YHWH's distinctive self-identification formula, appearing in: - **Deuteronomy 32:39**, *"See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me"* - **Isaiah 41:4**, *"I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he"* - **Isaiah 43:10, 13, 25**, *"I am he"* - **Isaiah 46:4**, *"I am he... I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver"* - **Isaiah 48:12**, *"I am he; I am the first, I also am the last"* The LXX consistently renders *ani hu* with the Greek *egō eimi* (ἐγώ εἰμι), "I am." When Jesus uses *egō eimi* in absolute form (without predicate) in John 8:24, 28, 58; 13:19; 18:5-6, He is directly appropriating the YHWH-self-designation. The Christological implication is unmistakable: Jesus claims to be the one whom Isaiah 43:10 identifies as YHWH. ### Absolute monotheism The claim *"before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me"* is one of the strongest possible monotheistic assertions. The verse forecloses: - **Polytheism** (multiple co-existing gods), no other God exists - **Henotheism** (one supreme god among many lesser gods), no lesser gods exist either - **Process theology** (God developing over time), no God-formation precedes or succeeds YHWH - **Pantheism** (God = cosmic substrate), YHWH is distinct, personal, self-identifying - **Mormonism** (God produced by other gods; future gods produced by exalted humans), explicitly excluded by *"before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me"* The Hebrew *yatzar* (to form, fashion) is the same verb used of YHWH forming humans from dust (Gen 2:7) and forming the cosmos (Isa 45:18). YHWH was not *formed*; everything else was formed by Him. ### YHWH alone is Saviour The clause *"besides me there is no saviour"* (Heb *moshia*) is YHWH's exclusive claim to the salvific role. The OT teaches that YHWH alone delivers Israel from Egypt (Ex 14:30), from the Philistines (1 Sam 14:23), from Assyria (Isa 37), from Babylon (return prophesied in Isa 40-66). No idol-god, human deliverer, or political alliance has authentic salvific power. The NT extension is striking: the apostolic preaching applies *moshia / sōtēr* (Saviour) to Jesus: - **Luke 2:11**, *"Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord"* - **Acts 4:12**, *"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved"* - **Philippians 3:20**, *"we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ"* - **Titus 2:13**, *"our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ"* If YHWH alone is Saviour (Isa 43:11) AND Jesus is Saviour (NT consistent teaching), THEN Jesus is identified with YHWH, exactly the Christological conclusion. The argument is one of the strongest divine-identity proofs from OT-NT integration. ### "Ye are my witnesses", ironic NT application The verse calls Israel YHWH's *"witnesses"*. The same vocabulary (Greek *martyres*, witnesses) is applied by Jesus to His apostles in Acts 1:8, *"ye shall be witnesses unto me"*. Jesus deliberately echoes Isaiah 43:10's *"ye are my witnesses"* and applies it to His own ministry. The identification: as Israel was YHWH's witnesses, the apostles are Jesus's witnesses, implying that being-Jesus's-witnesses IS being-YHWH's-witnesses. (The Jehovah's Witness organization takes its name from this Isaiah 43:10 passage. The Christian apologetic response: the verses identify the witnesses' Lord as the same Lord Jesus claimed to be, meaning JW theology that denies Jesus's full divinity is internally incoherent with the verse it names itself after.) ### Patristic and Reformed reading **Justin Martyr** (*Dialogue with Trypho* 64, c. AD 160): Isaiah 43 is one of the principal monotheistic anchors Justin uses to demonstrate that the New Testament's deification of Jesus does not violate OT monotheism, because Jesus IS the YHWH the OT describes. **Cyril of Alexandria** (*Commentary on Isaiah* 4): the *"I am he"* of Isaiah 43:10 is appropriated by Christ in John 8, the deity claimed in both texts is one and the same. **John Calvin** (*Commentary on Isaiah* ad Isa 43:10-11): the verse establishes "the absolute unicity of God" against "all polytheistic accretions", a foundational text for Christian monotheism that is fully preserved in the NT's application of YHWH-titles to Jesus. ### Apologetic deployment The verse is foundational for: 1. **Christian monotheism against polytheism (Greco-Roman; Hindu; some Mormon readings).** Counter to multi-deity systems: only one God exists; no others before or after. 2. **Christian monotheism against Process theology / Open Theism.** YHWH is not in development; He was not *formed* and will not be replaced. The classical-theist God of immutable being is the OT's God. 3. **Christological deity from monotheism + Saviour-identification.** If only YHWH is Saviour, and Jesus is Saviour (NT), then Jesus is identified with YHWH. This is a particularly powerful apologetic move in conversation with [Jehovah's Witnesses](/codex/jehovahs-witnesses/), whose theology depends on a sharp distinction between Jehovah and Jesus. 4. **Christological deity from the *ani hu* / *egō eimi* identification.** Jesus's absolute I-AM claims (John 8:58 and the I-am-he predictive claims of John 8:24, 28; 13:19) directly appropriate the Isaianic YHWH-self-designation. See [John 8.22-24](/codex/john-8-22-24/) and [John 8.28](/codex/john-8-28/) (rich hubs). 5. **Defeat of polytheistic Mormon Christology.** Mormonism teaches God was a man who became God, and that humans can become gods. Isaiah 43:10 *"before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me"* directly forecloses both claims. ### Oneness Pentecostal reading The Oneness reader takes Isaiah 43:10-11 as the foundational monotheistic anchor that the Oneness framework preserves throughout. The one God of Isaiah 43 is the same one God manifest in Jesus Christ in the NT. The Christological *egō eimi* claims of Jesus are exactly the one God identifying Himself in His incarnate Son-manifestation. No second person is needed; the same YHWH who said *"I am he"* in Isaiah is the one who says *"I am he"* in John 8. The Trinitarian reading takes the verses as the one God (Father-Son-Spirit, sharing the divine essence) speaking through the lens of the Father in OT context, with the Son later appropriating the YHWH self-designation in the incarnate ministry, preserving both the unity of God and the distinction of Persons. See [Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism](/codex/trinity-vs-oneness-vs-modalism-vs-arianism/). Both readings agree: the YHWH of Isaiah 43 IS the Jesus of John 8. ### Canonical-theological connections - **Deuteronomy 6:4**, Shema: *"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD"* - **Deuteronomy 32:39**, *"I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me"* - **Exodus 3:14**, *"I AM THAT I AM"* (Hebrew *ehyeh asher ehyeh*; LXX *egō eimi ho ōn*) - **Isaiah 44:6**, *"I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God"* - **Isaiah 45:5-6**, *"I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me"* - **Isaiah 45:21-23**, *"a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me... unto me every knee shall bow"* - **John 8:24, 28, 58**, Jesus's I-AM claims (rich hubs [John 8.22-24](/codex/john-8-22-24/), [John 8.28](/codex/john-8-28/)) - **John 13:19**, proleptic I-AM (*"that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am [he]"*) - **Revelation 1:17 / 22:13**, Christ as first-and-last (rich hub [Revelation 1.17-18](/codex/revelation-1-17-18/)) - **Acts 4:12**, no other name for salvation - **Titus 2:13**, Jesus as God and Saviour - **Luke 2:11**, Jesus as Saviour ## Key words - [H0410 - el](/codex/h0410-el/), *el* (Strong's H410). Also appears in: [Genesis 14.18-20](/codex/genesis-14-18-20/), [Genesis 16.7-13](/codex/genesis-16-7-13/), [Genesis 28](/codex/genesis-28/). - [H0539 - aman](/codex/h0539-aman/), *aman* (Strong's H539). Also appears in: [Deuteronomy 7.9](/codex/deuteronomy-7-9/), [Deuteronomy 28](/codex/deuteronomy-28/), [1 Samuel 3](/codex/1-samuel-3/). - [H3045 - yada](/codex/h3045-yada/), *yada* (Strong's H3045). Also appears in: [Genesis 3](/codex/genesis-3/), [Genesis 12](/codex/genesis-12/), [Genesis 19](/codex/genesis-19/). - [H3068 - YHWH](/codex/h3068-yhwh/), *YHWH* (Strong's H3068). Also appears in: [Genesis 2.4](/codex/genesis-2-4/), [Genesis 2.7](/codex/genesis-2-7/), [Genesis 2.16-17](/codex/genesis-2-16-17/). - [H3467 - yasha](/codex/h3467-yasha/), *yasha* (Strong's H3467). Also appears in: [Deuteronomy 22](/codex/deuteronomy-22/), [Deuteronomy 28](/codex/deuteronomy-28/), [Judges 6.11-24](/codex/judges-6-11-24/). - [H5650 - ebed](/codex/h5650-ebed/), *ebed* (Strong's H5650). Also appears in: [Genesis 9.26](/codex/genesis-9-26/), [Genesis 12](/codex/genesis-12/), [Genesis 18.1-15](/codex/genesis-18-1-15/). ## See also - [John 8.22-24](/codex/john-8-22-24/), Jesus's *"unless you believe that I am he"* (rich hub; direct echo) - [John 8.28](/codex/john-8-28/), Jesus's *"when you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he"* (rich hub) - [John 8.58](/codex/john-8-58/), absolute *egō eimi* I-AM - [Revelation 1.17-18](/codex/revelation-1-17-18/), Christ as first-and-last (rich hub) - [Christs Deity](/codex/christs-deity/), proof-text cluster - [Monotheism](/codex/monotheism/), domain hub - [Christology](/codex/christianity/) / [Christs Deity](/codex/christs-deity/), broader frame - [Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism](/codex/trinity-vs-oneness-vs-modalism-vs-arianism/), multi-position - [Jehovah's Witnesses](/codex/jehovahs-witnesses/), apologetic context (paradoxical naming) - [Mormonism](/codex/mormonism/), apologetic context (polytheism defeater) - [Conversation Scenarios](/codex/conversation-scenarios/), §6 (JW) / §7 (Muslim) deploy this verse - [Isaiah](/codex/isaiah-the-prophet/), book hub - [Old Testament Christology](/codex/old-testament-witness-to-the-deity-of-christ/), domain hub ## Quoted in **Arguments and defeaters:** - [OT Polytheism Objection Defeater](/codex/ot-polytheism-objection-defeater/) - [Yahweh is a Son of Elyon Defeater](/codex/yahweh-is-a-son-of-elyon-defeater/) **Concepts:** - [Are Christians Still Under the Law](/codex/are-christians-still-under-the-law/), via [Isaiah 43.11](/codex/isaiah-43-11/) - [Mormonism](/codex/mormonism/) - [Old Testament Christology](/codex/old-testament-witness-to-the-deity-of-christ/) - [Oneness Pentecostalism](/codex/oneness-pentecostalism/) - [Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism](/codex/trinity-vs-oneness-vs-modalism-vs-arianism/) **People:** - [Mark Smith](/codex/mark-smith/), via [Isaiah 43.10](/codex/isaiah-43-10/) **Lexicon:** - [G2424 - Iesous](/codex/g2424-iesous/), via [Isaiah 43.11](/codex/isaiah-43-11/) - [H1961 - hayah](/codex/h1961-hayah/), via [Isaiah 43.10-13](/codex/isaiah-43-10-13/) - [H3091 - Yehoshua](/codex/h3091-yehoshua/), via [Isaiah 43.11](/codex/isaiah-43-11/) - [H3467 - yasha](/codex/h3467-yasha/), via [Isaiah 43.11](/codex/isaiah-43-11/) **Passages:** - [Exodus 20.4](/codex/exodus-20-4/) - [Isaiah 45.23](/codex/isaiah-45-23/) - [Isaiah 48.12-16](/codex/isaiah-48-12-16/) - [Isaiah 61.1](/codex/isaiah-61-1/)