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Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the surging waters,
Isaiah 43:16 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters says:
  • KJV Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
  • NKJV Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea And a path through the mighty waters,
  • NASB This is what the Lord says, He who makes a way through the sea And a path through the mighty waters,
  • NLT I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

God is described as the one who makes a way through the sea and a path through mighty waters. It recalls the Exodus to assure His people of a new deliverance.

Overview

The language deliberately evokes the parting of the Red Sea, God's signature act of salvation. By recalling the past, God prepares His people to trust Him for what He will do next. This new exodus motif points forward to the ultimate deliverance from sin and death accomplished in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 18

  • Ps 77:19Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, but Your footprints were not to be found.
  • Isa 43:2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.
  • Isa 51:10Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea for the redeemed to cross over?
  • Jer 31:35Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name:
  • Isa 51:15For I am the LORD your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name.
  • Isa 63:11–13Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His Holy Spirit among them,
  • Ps 78:13He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.
  • Neh 9:11You divided the sea before them, and they crossed through it on dry ground. You hurled their pursuers into the depths like a stone into raging waters.
  • Ps 106:9He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; He led them through the depths as through a desert.
  • Rev 16:12And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.
  • Exod 14:29But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.
  • Isa 11:15–16The LORD will devote to destruction the gulf of the Sea of Egypt; with a scorching wind He will sweep His hand over the Euphrates. He will split it into seven streams for men to cross with dry sandals.
  • Ps 74:13–14You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
  • Ps 114:3–5The sea observed and fled; the Jordan turned back;
  • Ps 136:13–15He divided the Red Sea in two His loving devotion endures forever.
  • Exod 14:21–22Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,
  • Josh 3:13–16When the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—touch down in the waters of the Jordan, its flowing waters will be cut off and will stand up in a heap.”
  • Exod 14:16And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 43:16YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 43:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.