You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that you may know, and believe me, and understand that I myself am. Before me there was no God formed, and after me there shall be none.
Ibn Ezra
Ye are my witnesses, etc. Israel is addressed. And my servant. The prophet. I am he. This is the sublimest expression of the unity of God; for every other being is different from its real form. Before me, after me. According to some, before me means before the revelation on Sinai, and after me, after the revelation. But it is not at all necessary to depart from the literal meaning of the words: No God was before me, and none will be after me, because God is the first and last. The expression formed (נוצר) is applied here to the word God, in order to imply that a god besides Him can only be one formed by man. Shortsighted people think, that the expression formed used in reference to the Creator, slipped out of the mouth of the prophet; but this is by no means the case ; such critics do not conceive the true meaning of the verse.
Hebrew and Aramaic words are the commentator’s citations of the sacred text; the English translation that follows each is the translator’s.
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.