Isaiah 43:10

אַתֶּם֚ עֵדַי֙ נְאֻם־יְהוָ֔ה וְעַבְדִּי֭ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בָּחָ֑רְתִּי לְמַ֣עַן תֵּ֠דְעוּ וְתַאֲמִ֙ינוּ לִ֤י וְתָבִ֙ינוּ֙ כִּֽי־אֲנִ֣י ה֔וּא לְפָנַי֙ לֹא־נ֣וֹצַר אֵ֔ל וְאַחֲרַי֭ לֹ֥א יִהְיֶֽה׃

10 "You are my witnesses," says the LORD, "and my servant, whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, and after me there will be none."

אַתֶּם עֵדַי נְאֻם־יְהוָה "You are my witnesses," says the LORD, We discussed עֵד "witness" in the previous verse; see 41:14 for comments on נְאֻם, "a solemn oracle." Mp: The word אַתֶּם "you" occurs four times at the beginning of a verse (Ex 5:11; 19:4; Deut. 29:9 and Isaiah 43:10). This (also an Mp note) is the only time אַתֶּם עֵדַי occurs, and perhaps there is some homiletical value to this note.

וְעַבְדִּי אֲשֶׁר בָּחָרְתִּי "and my servant, whom I have chosen, בָּחָרְתִּי is a qal perfect 1 sg from בָּחַר "choose." Billy Graham was very insistent that a choice must be made, a conscious reception of Christ into the heart for salvation to take place. But how can decision theology stand against the vast array of passages like this one that make God the one who does the choosing, not man? Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear that we are not saved because of our deeds or choice, but because of God's grace. Luther's words still ring like a bell: "I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, nor come to him."

The Syriac makes וְעַבְדִּי a plural, "my servants," but no other versions or Hebrew manuscripts support the reading.

לְמַעַן תֵּדְעוּ וְתַאֲמִינוּ לִי וְתָבִינוּ so that you may know and believe me and understand. The preposition לְמַעַן occurs primarily with the infinitive of purpose or (as here) an imperfect stating either purpose "in order that" or result "so that" (Hos. 8:4). Here it states purpose with the imperfect תֵּדְעוּ "so that you may know." וְתַאֲמִינוּ is a hifil imperfect from אמן, which means "confirm" or "believe" when followed by a lamed of the person believed (לִי, "me"). A third imperfect, וְתָבִינוּ "and understand" (from בִּן "discern between") brings the three verbs into a group; the theologians of a former century would have called this an example of scientia, assentia et fiducia (Pieper held this view). However, that seems to be stretching three verbs into a later dogmatic concept, and we should be careful to go the other way, drawing dogmatic concepts, where necessary, from Scriptural statements. The three elements of faith are expressed well enough elsewhere: this is more a kind of superlative, "you will certainly know, with a believing, understanding knowledge."

The supralinear accent above תֵּ֠דְעוּ is telisa gadol. It is a minor disjunctive accent and no exegetical implications occur with it here, although it causes some confusion in Isaiah 9:5 [Eng. 9:6] with "wonderful (,) counselor.

כִּי־אֲנִי הוּא that I am he. Note the munach connecting אֲנִ֣י with ה֔וּא. We can't help but that is an Old Testament "I Am" (LXX ἐγώ εἰμι) statement. Strictly speaking, אֲנִי emphasizes the subject (GK §135 and note, where four instances from Isaiah are noted).

לְפָנַי לֹא־נוֹצַר אֵל Before me no god was formed, There is an exegetical double meaning in לְפָנַי, since the idea in context is "before I existed," that is, before in the sense of time before, and yet everything that was created was created by God and only with his knowledge and power, and so לְפָנַי can retain its usual "before the face of" (ἔμπροσθεν) meaning as well. נוֹצַר is a nifal participle with the accent on the first syllable (נ֣וֹצַר) like a pe-nun verb although it should properly be pe-yod (GK §70a)

וְאַחֲרַי לֹא יִהְיֶה and after me there will be none." וְאַחֲרַי is an adverb with a 1st singular ending; it can be a reference to either place or of time, and here "time" appears to be implied, but cf. לְפָנַי above. The phrase לֹא יִהְיֶה has an absolute theological sense here: there is nothing at all apart from God; there can be nothing at all without him. Even chaos (תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ) was "לֹא יִהְיֶה" before the creation by God.

Student feedback: Will it help if I include these two translations in the verses? It would only take a click to drop them into the end of each verse.
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Septuagint: γένεσθέ μοι μάρτυρες, κἀγὼ μάρτυς, λέγει κύριος ὁ θεός, καὶ ὁ παῖς, ὃν ἐξελεξάμην, ἵνα γνῶτε καὶ πιστεύσητε καὶ συνῆτε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι, ἔμπροσθέν μου οὐκ ἐγένετο ἄλλος θεὸς καὶ μετ' ἐμὲ οὐκ ἔσται˙

Vulgate: vos testes mei dicit Dominus et servus meus quem elegi ut sciatis et credatis mihi et intellegatis quia ego ipse sum ante me non est formatus deus et post me non erit