Isaiah 58

True Fasting

58“Cry out loudly, ^qdon’t hold back!

Raise your voice like a trumpet.

Tell My people their transgression

and the house of Jacob their sins.

²They seek Me day after day

and delight to know My ways,

like a nation that does what is right

and does not abandon the justice of their God.

They ask Me for righteous judgments;

they delight in the nearness of God.” ^r

³“Why have we fasted, but You have not seen? ^s

We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed!” ^t

“Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast,

and oppress all your workers. ^u

⁴You fast with contention and strife

to strike viciously with your fist.

You cannot fast as you do today,

hoping to make your voice heard on high.

⁵Will the fast I choose be like this:

A day for a person to deny himself,

to bow his head like a reed,

and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? ^v

Will you call this a fast

and a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶Isn’t the fast I choose:

To break the chains of wickedness, ^w

to untie the ropes of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free,

and to tear off every yoke? ^x

⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, ^y

to bring the poor and homeless into your house,

to clothe the naked when you see him, ^z

and not to ignore ^ayour own flesh and blood? ^b

⁸Then your light will appear like the dawn,

and your recovery will come quickly. ^c

Your righteousness will go before you, ^d

and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard. ^e

⁹At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer; ^f

when you cry out, He will say, ‘Here I am.’

If you get rid of the yoke among you, ^g

the finger-pointing and malicious speaking, ^h

¹⁰and if you offer yourself ⁱto the hungry,

and satisfy the afflicted one,

then your light will shine in the darkness, ^j

and your night will be like noonday.

¹¹The Lord will always lead you,

satisfy you in a parched land,

and strengthen your bones.

You will be like a watered garden ^k

and like a spring whose waters never run dry. ^l

¹²Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; ^m

you will restore the foundations laid long ago; ^no

you will be called the repairer of broken walls,

the restorer of streets where people live.

¹³“If you keep from desecrating ^pthe Sabbath, ^q

from doing whatever you want on My holy day;

if you call the Sabbath a delight,

and the holy day of the Lord honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways, ^r

seeking your own pleasure, or talking too much; ^s

¹⁴then you will delight yourself in the Lord, ^t

and I will make you ride over the heights of the land, ^u

and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.”

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. ^v