Isaiah 58:1–7

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