Isaiah 58:1–5

True Fasts and Sabbaths

58 “Call with the throat; you must not keep back!

lift up your voice like a trumpet,

and declarea to my people their rebellion,

and to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yetb they seek me day by day,

and they desire the knowledge of my ways

like a nation that ⌊practiced⌋c righteousness,

and had not forsaken the judgment of its God;

they ask me for ⌊righteous judgments⌋,d

they desire the closeness of God.

3 ‘Why do we fast, and you do not see it?

We humiliate our soul, and you do not notice it?’

Look! You find delight on the day of your fast,

and you oppress all your workers!

4 Look! You fast to quarrel and strife,

and to strike with a ⌊wicked fist⌋.e

You shall not fast as you do ⌊today⌋,f

to ⌊make your voice heard⌋g on the height.

5 Is the fast I choose like this,

a day for humankind to humiliate ⌊himself⌋h?

To bow his head like a reed,

and ⌊make⌋i his bed on sackcloth and ashes;

you call this a fast

and a day of pleasure to Yahweh?