to fear · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
bring
אָבִ֣יא'a.Vi'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
seed
זַרְעֶ֔ךָzar.'E.kha
H2233
seed · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
east
מִמִּזְרָח֙mi.miz.Rach
H4217
sunrise · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
gather
אֲקַבְּצֶֽךָּ'a.ka.be.Tze.ka
H6908
to grasp · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
west
וּמִֽמַּעֲרָ֖בu.mi.ma.'a.Rav
H4628
the west (as a region of the evening sun) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 30:3 That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whi…
Luke 13:29 And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
Isaiah 49:12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
Ezekiel 39:25-29 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be…
Isaiah 44:2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, w…
Isaiah 60:1-11 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
Ezekiel 36:24-27 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Acts 18:9-10 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 43:1-7
This chapter has a plain connexion with the close of the foregoing chapter, but a very surprising one. It was there said that Jacob and Israel would not walk in God's ways, and that when he corrected them for their disobedience they were stubborn and laid it not to heart; and now one would think it should have followed that God would utterly abandon and destroy them; but no, the next words are, But now, fear not, O Jacob! O Israel! I have redeemed thee, and thou art mine. Though many among them were untractable and incorrigible, yet God would continue his love and care for his people, and the body of that nation should still be reserved for mercy. God's goodness takes occasion from man's bad…
(Deu 30:3).
seed--descendants scattered in all lands. VITRINGA understands it of the spiritual "seed" of the Church produced by mystical regeneration: for the expression is, "bring," not "bring back." This sense is perhaps included, but not to the exclusion of the literal Israel's restoration (Jer 30:10-11; Amo 9:9; Zac 2:6-13).
John Gill on Isaiah 43:5
Fear not, for I am with thee,.... With thy ministers that preach the everlasting Gospel, to make it effectual to the conversion of many everywhere, as well as to bear thee up under all trials, and to cause thee to stand against all opposition:
I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; which is to be understood not literally of the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity; for these several quarters, east, west, north, and south, will hardly agree with that, though it may be supposed they were scattered in several countries; but spiritually of the gathering in of God's elect, whether Jews or Gentiles, which were scattered abroad throughout the world, called…
Fear not. When Isaiah frequently repeats this exhortation, we ought not to look upon it as superfluous; for we know and feel how prone we are by nature to distrust. Scarcely any words can express the greatness of the alarm by which the Church was at that time shaken. As soon as we begin to call in question the promises of God, our minds are distracted by various thoughts; we are alarmed and continually tormented by the greatness and diversity of the dangers, till at length we are stupified, and have no perception of the grace of God. Accordingly, before despair seize our hearts, it is not without good reason that he so frequently repeats I am with thee, in order that he may either destroy al…
The Church Fathers
"I will destroy those warring with you on account of the gospel, both people and leaders." He encourages them in this way. "And your children, which you have sown by God and which you have begotten throughout the world, I will gather to my heavenly city, raising up those airborne, through the air, like birds made light by the winds," that is, the angelic forces. "I shall raise up your offspring to be my children through their being reborn in the church, and all those called by my name Christians are welcomed." For Christ prophesied these things through the godly prophet.
These predictions received their fulfillment after the defeat of the Babylonians, for Cyrus commanded [the Jews] to return to Judea. At the time the latter made [their] return from the east, those who had taken flight during the war and reached the west then [also] returned to the land, probably because they recognized the peace that had come on Judea. In any case, it is with truth and precision that the text clearly indicates the people that the holy apostles have called from the entire world and who have obtained salvation. For in every city the Jews were the first to whom the apostles offered the divine teachings.
(Verses 5-7) Do not fear, for I am with you: I will bring your descendants from the East, and gather you from the West. I will say to the North, give up: and to the South, do not withhold: bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. And everyone who calls upon my name, I have created him for my glory, and I have formed him and made him. LXX: Do not be afraid, for I am with you: I will bring your offspring from the East, and gather you from the West. I will say to the north, give up; and to the south, do not withhold: bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. And he joins and says: Do not be afraid, I am with you, who speak to you in the Gospel: Behold, I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world (Matt. 28:20). For I will bring your sons from the East and from the West, who will rest in the bosom of Abraham, and from all parts of the world the people of my sons and daughters will be gathered, who will either invoke my name or be called by my name, so that they may be called Christians to the glory of their creator.
Dictionary and topics
East — (1.) The orient (mizrah); the rising of the sun. Thus “the east country” is the country lying to the east of Syria, the Elymais (Zech. 8:7). (2). Properly what is in front of one, or a country that…
Condescension Of God · Expostulates with backsliding Israel — Expostulates with backsliding Israel
Faith · ENJOINE — ENJOINE
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The encouraging "Fear not" is here resumed, for the purpose of assigning a still further reason. "Fear not; for I am with thee: I bring thy seed from the east, and from the west will I gather them; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth; everything that is called by my name, and I have created for my glory, that I have formed, yea finished!" The fact that Jehovah is with Israel will show itself in this, that He effects its complete restoration from all quarters of the heaven (compare the lands of the diaspora in all directions already mentioned by Isaiah in Isa 11:11-12). Jehovah's command is issue…
Conquering forces could be compared to flooding rivers (see 8:8). • I will be with you: God is committed to being with his people to protect and care for them (see 7:14; 41:10; 43:5; 45:14). • Israel experienced God’s judgment as the fire of oppression during the Exile.