Isaiah 43:2

כִּֽי־תַעֲבֺ֚ר בַּ֙מַּיִם֙ אִתְּךָ־אָ֔נִי וּבַנְּהָר֖וֹת לֺ֣א יִשְׁטְפ֑וּךָ כִּֽי־תֵלֵךְ֚ בְּמוֹ־אֵשׁ֙ לֺ֣א תִכָּוֶ֔ה וְלֶהָבָה֖ לֺ֥א תִבְעַר־בָּֽךְ׃

2 "When you pass through the waters I will be with you. And through rivers -- they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire you will not be burned, and the flam will not consume you."

כִּי־תַעֲבֹר בַּמַּיִם אִתְּךָ־אָנִי "When you pass through the waters I will be with you. Here כִּי is used in a temporal sense; BDB's comment is that in a temporal setting, כִּי is used "esp. of [the] future," and there the reference to Isaiah's use of the future כִּי with the imperfect is labeled "often." תַעֲבֹר qal imperfect 2nd m. singular, not just to the nation as an individual but as a promise to the believer as he stands listening. God's promise is also in the singular: אִתְּךָ־אָנִי "I will be with you."

וּבַנְּהָרוֹת לֹא יִשְׁטְפוּךָ And through rivers -- they will not overwhelm you. The verb from the previous clause is attached here in relation to וּבַנְּהָרוֹת "the rivers." Just as Israel the nation had passed through the Red Sea, so also Israel the nation passed over the Jordan, and Elijah and Elisha did the same. שָׁטַף is to "overflow" like a person rinsing off the dishes or washing by holding under running water.

Mp: וּבַנְּהָרוֹת occurs twice (cf. Psalm 89:26). The longer note is simply that לֹא occurs three times in the same verse (לֹא לֹא לֹא) forty-seven times (see list below, it does not include cases of more than three לֹא's).

כִּי־תֵלֵךְ בְּמוֹ־אֵשׁ לֹא תִכָּוֶה When you walk through fire you will not be burned, בְּמוֹ is just the preposition בְּ with a paragogic -מוֹ the way we normally find paragogic nun. Recall that paragogic really just means "on the end there," and there is probably no exegetical value. Rather, the ending is more likely to be there for euphonic reasons, the way we lengthen the vowel in "the" depending on the initial vowel of the following word. It's something we learn to hear as children without a lot of commentary. It's the way they said it. תִכָּוֶה displays that classic nifal vowel pattern; כָּוָה is to burn or scorch something.

Mp: בְּמוֹ occurs 9 times: Job 9:30; 16:4; 16:5; 19:16; 37:8; Ps 11:2; Isaiah 43:2; 44:16 and 44:19.

וְלֶהָבָה לֹא תִבְעַר־בָּךְ and the flame will not consume you." לֶהָבָה is a poetic word for "flame." "Flame" and "fire" are a common word pair, often in parallel lines or even as a word pair. בָּעַר "burn, consume" is a more intense word than כָּוָה "scorch." Mp: וְלֶהָבָה occurs three times (Isa. 43:2; Jer. 48:45 and Joel 1:19).

Israel had already seen that they could absolutely trust God to keep his word: They had passed through the waters of the Red Sea (and the Jordan River, Josh. 3:14-17) and they had not lost so much as a sandal. The same application can be made with the experience of Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings 2:6 ("The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground"). After Isaiah's time, Daniel's companions Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would pass through the fire without being hurt at all.

The 47 are: Gn 21:26; Lv 18:3; 19:19; 21:5; 26:1; Nu 6:3; Dt 6:11; 11:2; 21:14; 32:17; 33:9; Josh 24:13; 1 Sa 17:39; 2 Sa 18:3; 2 Kg 14:6; 2 Chr 25:4; 30:3; Neh 9:21; Psalm 1:1; 15:3; 15:5; Prov 4:16; Isa 9:16; 10:7; 16:10; 27:11; 43:2; 47:11; 48:8; 54:4; 57:11; 64:3; Jer 2:8; Lam 4:16; Ezel 3:6; 5:7; 7:13; 7:19; 13:9; 18:15; 18;16; 18:25; 18:29; 33:12; Dan 10:3; Hos 1:9; Am 2:15

[Ezekiel 34:4 has no Mp note for לֹא, but contains 5 cases of לֹא in a single verse].