Isaiah 43:19

The two verses just before this one recall the exodus, a path cut through the sea so Israel could escape Egypt (43:16-17). Isaiah deliberately echoes that history, then turns toward something new: what God promises next is called a new thing, and the people are told to actually notice it (“don't you know it?”) rather than assume they've already seen everything He can do.

For exiles about to make a real, physical trip home across hundreds of miles of desert, a way through the wilderness answered an urgent, practical need. The promise starts concrete: safe passage where there had been none, water where there had been none. Whatever it points to beyond that comes second.