Reading for April 29th

 Read Isaiah 43.1-13. In 43.1-28: I will be with you. In verses 1-7: The presence of God with Israel is assured, in spite of the apparently hopeless situation in which many survivors of the nation found themselves. Their widely scattered locations reach far beyond the borders of Judah, or even Babylon. A slave's freedom could be negotiated. God would ensure that the host nations to which Judah's citizens had fled for refuge would grant them freedom to return to their homeland. In verses 8-13: The foretelling of the former things (vv. 9, 18) refers to the fulfillment of earlier prophecies, probably those now preserved in the book of Isaiah, as the allusion (v. 8) to the warning given in 6.9-10 makes clear. The Lord God of Israel providentially controls all history and is the only true God. Verse 10 shows how the title my servant could be used to describe a whole community. Comments or Questions..