Isaiah 43:1

וְעַתָּ֞ה כֺּֽה־אָמַר֚ יְהוָה֙ בֹּרַאֲךָ֣ יַעֲקֺ֔ב וְיֹצֶרְךָ֖ יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אַל־תִּירָא֙ כִּ֣י גְאַלְתִּ֔יךָ קָרָא֥תִי בְשִׁמְךָ֖ לִי־אָֽתָּה׃

43 But now this is what the LORD who created you, Jacob, and formed you, Israel, says: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine."

וְעַתָּה כֹּה־אָמַר יְהוָה בֹּרַאֲךָ יַעֲקֹב וְיֹצֶרְךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל But now this is what the LORD who created you, Jacob, and formed you, Israel, says: וְעַתָּה forms a transitional statement here at the beginning of a new chapter and a new section about Israel's only Savior. The accent garshayim doesn't have a different exegetical meaning from a regular geresh but appears when the word is accented on the ultima rather than the penult and has no conjunctive accent preceding. The metegh under כֺּֽה, however, does emphasize the new thought, and causes the reader to pause slightly on the word "Thus!" בֹּרַאֲךָ is a qal active participle, the same word for creation from Genesis 1:1. וְיֹצֶרְךָ is likewise a qal active participle; the root also appears in the creation account: "Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field..." The context implies a parallel or slightly more intimate meaning than בָרָא. The language of the creation here points us to the thought of the new creation, the creation of faith in the heart and the rebirth of mankind.

אַל־תִּירָא כִּי גְאַלְתִּיךָ "Fear not, for I have redeemed you. As far as I know, אַל־תִּירָא went uncounted by the Masoretes. But for homiletical reasons, the 40 cases of the pairing are worth looking at (cf. the note below). גְאַלְתִּיךָ is the qal perfect of גָּאַל, "redeem, act as a kinsman-redeemer." God has personally redeemed us; the Son of God rescued us as our brother, he was a our closest kinsman and he paid our debt in our place.

קָרָאתִי בְשִׁמְךָ לִי־אָתָּה I have called you by name. You are mine." Although the versions understand a 2nd person suffix with קָרָאתִי, it isn't required by the text. Note that the suffix of בְשִׁמְךָ is second person singular: He called each and every one of us by our individual names. Although God calls us by his own name in other places (note the conjectural reading in the BHS apparatus) this is God calling you by your own name. He knows you just as he knows each of the stars (Isaiah 40:26).

The 40 cases of אַל־תִּירָא are: Gen. 15:1; 26:24; 46:3; Num 21:34; Deut 1:21; 3:2; Josh 8:1; 10:8; 11:6; Judg 4:18; 6:23; 1 Sam 22:23; 23:17; 2 Sam 9:7; 2 Kg 1:15; 6:16; 19:6; 1 Chr 22:13; 28:20; Job 5:22; Psalm 3:25; Prov 3:25; Isa 7:4; 10:24; 37:6; 41:10; 41:13; 43:1; 43:5; 44:2; Jer 1:8; 30:10; 46:27; 46:28; Lam 3:57; Ezek. 2:6 (3 times); Daniel 10:12 and 10:19.