About this print

When Thou Passest Through the Waters, Isaiah 43:2

A walker with a staff picks his way across white rapids, one careful step at a time, beneath a promise first spoken to exiles who had lost everything.

Crossing the rapids

The river pours diagonally across the page in churning blues and white spray, broken by a line of flat brown stones. Jesus, in sandals and a long cream robe with a blue cloak and striped red shawl, stands with one foot on a stone and the other reaching for the next. He grips a tall wooden staff planted in the current and looks down at where he is stepping.

The banks rise in tan boulders on both sides, with dark pines on the right and hazy blue hills in the distance. Sunlight breaks through the clouds at the upper right. Across the top, in brown handwriting, runs the promise: “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee”, with Isaiah 43:2 below it.

Who was Isaiah 43:2 written for?

This part of Isaiah addresses the people of Judah in exile in Babylon, far from their land and their ruined Temple. The first verse of the chapter carries a tender line: “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” Verse 2 then lists the worst that could happen. The full line reads: “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

Water and fire were not random images. Israel's memory was built on crossings: the Red Sea under Moses, the Jordan under Joshua. The prophet reminds a discouraged people that the God who led their ancestors through water can lead them home again. Notice that the verse says “when”, not “if”. It does not promise a life without floods, only company in them.

Christians read the passage as fulfilled in Christ, who comes alongside people in their suffering, which is why the painting places him in the river rather than on the bank. He is not watching the crossing; he is making it.

For grief, and for a new beginning

Isaiah 43:2 is often read at funerals and printed on memorial cards, and this watercolor is chosen as a sympathy gift for someone who has lost a spouse, a parent or a child. It offers steadiness rather than easy answers.

It also marks adult baptisms, especially river or immersion baptisms, and speaks to anyone going through divorce, recovery or a long illness. Hang it in a study, a bedroom or a quiet corner where it can be seen on difficult mornings.

Read Isaiah 43 and what it means