Isaiah 58–66

True and False Fasting

58“Cry aloud; do not hold back;

^clift up your voice like a trumpet;

^ddeclare to my people their transgression,

to the house of Jacob their sins.

^2eYet they seek me daily

and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that did righteousness

and did not forsake the judgment of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments;

they delight to draw near to God.

^3f‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?

Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,¹

^gand oppress all your workers.

⁴Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to hit with a wicked fist.

Fasting like yours this day

will not make your voice to be heard on high.

^5hIs such the fast that I choose,

ⁱa day for a person to humble himself?

Is it to bow down his head like a reed,

and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?

Will you call this a fast,

and a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶“Is not this the fast that I choose:

^jto loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo the straps ^kof the yoke,

to let the oppressed² go free,

and to break every yoke?

⁷Is it not ^lto share your bread with the hungry

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him,

^mand not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

⁸ⁿThen shall your light break forth like the dawn,

^oand your healing shall spring up speedily;

^pyour righteousness shall go before you;

^qthe glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

⁹Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;

you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’

If you take away ^rthe yoke from your midst,

^sthe pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

^10tif you pour yourself out for the hungry

and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,

ⁿthen shall your light rise in the darkness

and your gloom be as the noonday.

¹¹And the Lord will guide you continually

and satisfy your desire in scorched places

and make your bones strong;

and you shall be ^ulike a watered garden,

like a spring of water,

whose waters do not fail.

^12vAnd your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

the restorer of streets to dwell in.

^13w“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,

from doing your pleasure³ on my holy day,

and call the Sabbath a delight

and the holy day of the Lord honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

or seeking ^xyour own pleasure,⁴ or talking idly;⁵

¹⁴then you shall take delight in the Lord,

^yand I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;⁶

^zI will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,

^afor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Evil and Oppression

59Behold, ^bthe Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,

or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;

^2cbut your iniquities have made a separation

between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden his face from you

so that he does not hear.

^3dFor your hands are defiled with blood

and your fingers with iniquity;

your lips have spoken lies;

your tongue mutters wickedness.

^4eNo one enters suit justly;

no one goes to law honestly;

they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,

^fthey conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

⁵They hatch adders’ eggs;

they weave the spider’s web;

he who eats their eggs dies,

and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.

^6gTheir webs will not serve as clothing;

men will not cover themselves with what they make.

Their works are works of iniquity,

and deeds of violence are in their hands.

^7hTheir feet run to evil,

and they are swift to shed innocent blood;

their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;

desolation and destruction are in their highways.

⁸The way of peace they do not know,

and there is no justice in their paths;

they have made their roads crooked;

ⁱno one who treads on them knows peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not overtake us;

^jwe hope for light, and behold, darkness,

and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

^10kWe grope for the wall like the blind;

we grope like those who have no eyes;

we stumble at noon as in the twilight,

^lamong those in full vigor we are like dead men.

¹¹We all growl like bears;

^mwe moan and moan like doves;

ⁿwe hope for justice, but there is none;

for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before you,

and our sins testify against us;

for our transgressions are with us,

and we know our iniquities:

¹³transgressing, and denying the Lord,

and turning back from following our God,

^ospeaking oppression and revolt,

conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

Judgment and Redemption

^14pJustice is turned back,

and righteousness stands far away;

for truth has stumbled in the public squares,

and uprightness cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is lacking,

and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him¹

that there was no justice.

^16qHe saw that there was no man,

and wondered that there was no one to intercede;

then his own arm brought him salvation,

and his righteousness upheld him.

^17rHe put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in ^szeal as a cloak.

^18tAccording to their deeds, so will he repay,

wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;

^uto the coastlands he will render repayment.

^19vSo they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,

and his glory from the rising of the sun;

^wfor he will come like a rushing stream,²

which the wind of the Lord drives.

^20x“And ^ya Redeemer will come to Zion,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.

²¹“And as for me, ^zthis is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, ^aand my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”

The Future Glory of Israel

60^bArise, shine, for your light has come,

and ^cthe glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

²For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,

and thick darkness the peoples;

but the Lord will arise upon you,

and his glory will be seen upon you.

^3dAnd nations shall come to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your rising.

^4eLift up your eyes all around, and see;

they all gather together, they come to you;

^fyour sons shall come from afar,

and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.

⁵Then you shall see and ^gbe radiant;

your heart shall thrill and exult,¹

because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,

^hthe wealth of the nations shall come to you.

⁶A multitude of camels shall cover you,

the young camels of ⁱMidian and ^jEphah;

all those from ^kSheba shall come.

^lThey shall bring gold and frankincense,

and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.

⁷All the flocks of ^mKedar shall be gathered to you;

the rams of ⁿNebaioth shall minister to you;

^othey shall come up with acceptance on my altar,

^pand I will beautify my beautiful house.

⁸Who are these that fly like a cloud,

and ^qlike doves to their windows?

⁹For ^rthe coastlands shall hope for me,

^sthe ships of Tarshish first,

^tto bring your children from afar,

their silver and gold with them,

for the name of the Lord your God,

and for the Holy One of Israel,

because ^uhe has made you beautiful.

^10vForeigners shall build up your walls,

and ^vtheir kings shall minister to you;

for in my wrath I struck you,

but in my favor I have had mercy on you.

^11wYour gates shall be open continually;

day and night they shall not be shut,

^wthat people may bring to you the wealth of the nations,

with their kings led in procession.

^12xFor the nation and kingdom

that will not serve you shall perish;

those nations shall be utterly laid waste.

^13yThe glory of Lebanon shall come to you,

the cypress, the plane, and ^zthe pine,

to beautify the place of my sanctuary,

and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

^14aThe sons of those who afflicted you

shall come bending low to you,

^band all who despised you

shall bow down at your feet;

^cthey shall call you the City of the Lord,

the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

^15dWhereas you have been forsaken and hated,

with no one passing through,

^eI will make you majestic forever,

a joy from age to age.

^16fYou shall suck the milk of nations;

you shall nurse at the breast of kings;

and you shall know that ^gI, the Lord, am your Savior

and your Redeemer, ^hthe Mighty One of Jacob.

¹⁷Instead of bronze I will bring gold,

and instead of iron I will bring silver;

instead of wood, bronze,

instead of stones, iron.

I will make your overseers peace

ⁱand your taskmasters righteousness.

^18jViolence shall no more be heard in your land,

devastation or destruction within your borders;

^kyou shall call your walls Salvation,

and your gates Praise.

^19lThe sun shall be no more

your light by day,

nor for brightness shall the moon

give you light;²

but the Lord will be your everlasting light,

and your God will be your glory.³

²⁰Your sun shall no more go down,

nor your moon withdraw itself;

for the Lord will be your everlasting light,

and ^myour days of mourning shall be ended.

²¹ⁿYour people shall all be righteous;

^othey shall possess the land forever,

^pthe branch of my planting, the work of my hands,

that I might be glorified.⁴

^22qThe least one shall become a clan,

and the smallest one a mighty nation;

^rI am the Lord;

in its time I will hasten it.

The Year of the Lord’s Favor

61^sThe Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has ^tanointed me

to bring good news to the poor;¹

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and ^uthe opening of the prison to those who are bound;²

^2vto proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,

^wand the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

³to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

^xto give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

^y…