Isaiah 48:12
Isaiah 48:1212Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the first, and I am the last.
Jehovah's Witnesses accept that is Jehovah speaking, calling himself "the First and also the Last." The Watchtower argues this title belongs exclusively to Jehovah and cannot properly be applied to Jesus. When and 22:13 apply "the First and the Last" to Jesus, JWs explain this either as a delegated title or as referring to a different sense — Jesus being the first and last of God's direct creations rather than the eternal, self-existent First and Last of .
is one of the most striking Trinitarian passages in the Old Testament. The speaker identifies himself as "the First and also the Last" (v. 12) — a title Jehovah claims exclusively (). In verse 13, the same speaker says "my own hand laid the foundation of the earth" — unmistakably Jehovah. Then in verse 16, this same speaker declares, "the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has sent me, and his spirit." Yahweh is speaking — and says Yahweh sent him. This reveals plurality within the one God: the sent one is Yahweh, the sender is Yahweh, and the Spirit is named as a distinct party alongside both. In the New Testament, Jesus takes the title "the First and the Last" upon himself (, 22:13), completing the identification. The JW explanation of delegated or derived titles fails because makes the title exclusive: "I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God."