Isaiah 58–66

True Fasts and Sabbaths

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

lift up your voice like a trumpet,

and declare^a to my people their rebellion,

and to the house of Jacob their sins.

²Yet^b 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!

⁴Look! 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.

⁵Is the fast I choose like this,

a day for humankind to humiliate himself^h?

To bow his head like a reed,

and makeⁱ his bed on sackcloth and ashes;

you call this a fast

and a day of pleasure to Yahweh?

⁶Is this not the fast I choose: to release the bonds of injustice,

to untie the ropes of the yoke,

and to let the oppressed go free,

and tear^j every yoke to pieces?

⁷Is it not to break your bread for the hungry?

You must bring home^k the poor, the homeless.

When you see the naked, you must cover him,

and you must not hide yourself from your relatives.^l

⁸Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall grow quickly.

And your salvation shall go before you;

the glory of Yahweh will be your rear guard.

⁹Then you shall call, and Yahweh himself will answer.

You shall cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am!’

If you remove from among you the yoke,

the finger-pointing^m and evil speech,ⁿ

¹⁰if^o you offer your soul to the hungry,

and you satisfy the appetite of the afflicted,

then^p your light shall rise in the darkness,

and your darkness will be like noon.

¹¹And Yahweh will lead you continually, and satisfy your soul in a barren land,

and he will strengthen your bones,

and you shall be like a well-watered garden,

and like a spring of water whose water does not fail.

¹²And they shall rebuild ancient ruins from you;

you shall erect the foundations of many generations,^q

and you shall be called^r the bricklayer of the breach,

the restorer of paths to live in.

¹³If you hold your foot back from the Sabbath,

from doing your affairs on my holy day,^s

if^t you call the Sabbath a pleasure,

the holy day of Yahweh honorable,

if^u you honor him more than^v doing your ways,

than finding your affairs^w and speaking a word,

¹⁴then you shall take your pleasure in^x Yahweh,

and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth,

and I will feed you the heritage of Jacob your ancestor,^y

for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

Rampant Transgression

59Look! The hand of Yahweh is not too short to save,^a

and his ear is not too dull to hear.^b

²Rather, your iniquities have been barriers^c between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden his face from you, from hearing.

³For your hands are defiled with blood,

and your fingers with iniquity.

Your lips have spoken lies,

your tongue speaks wickedness.

⁴There is nobody who pleads with^d justice,

and there is nobody who judges with honesty.

They rely on nothing

and speak vanity.

They conceive trouble

and beget iniquity;

⁵they hatch viper eggs,

and they weave a spider web.

One who eats their eggs dies,

and that which is pressed is hatched as a serpent.

⁶Their webs cannot become clothing,

and they cannot cover themselves with their works.

Their works are works of iniquity,

and deeds^e of violence are in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil,

and they hasten to shed innocent blood.

Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;

devastation and destruction are in their highways.

⁸They do not know the way of peace,

and there is no justice in their firm paths.

They have made their paths crooked for themselves;

everyone who walks^f in it knows no peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not reach us.

We wait for light, but^g look! there is darkness;

for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

¹⁰We grope like the blind along a wall,

and we grope as without^h eyes.

We stumble at noon as in the twilight;

among the strong we are like the dead.

¹¹We all groan like bears,

and we coo mutteringly like doves.

We wait for justice, butⁱ there is none;

for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions are numerous before you,

and our sins testify^j against us.

Indeed, our transgressions are with us,

and we know our iniquities:

¹³transgressing and denying Yahweh,

and turning away from following^k our God;

speaking oppression and falsehood,

conceiving and uttering words of deception from the heart.

¹⁴And justice is pushed back,

and righteousness stands afar;

for truth stumbles in the public square,

and straightforwardness is unable to enter,

¹⁵and truth is missing,

and he who turns aside from evil is plundered.

And Yahweh saw,

and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice

¹⁶And he saw that there was no man,

and he was appalled that there was no one who intercedes,

so^l his arm came to assist him,

and his righteousness was what^m sustained him.

¹⁷And he put on righteousness like a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation on his head,

and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a robe.

¹⁸According to deeds, so he will repay;

wrath to his enemies, requital to those who are his enemies.ⁿ

He will repay requital to the coastlands.

¹⁹So^o they shall fear the name of Yahweh from the west,

and his glory from the sunrise,

for he will come like a narrow stream;

the wind of Yahweh drives it on.

²⁰“And a redeemer will come to Zion,

to those in Jacob who turn away from transgression,”

declares^p Yahweh.

²¹“And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh:

my spirit that is upon you,

and my words that I have placed in your mouth

shall not depart from your mouth,

or^q from the mouths^r of your children,^s

or^t from the mouths^u of your children’s children,”^v

says Yahweh, “from now on and forever.”

Zion Glorified

60“Arise, shine! For your light has come,

and the glory of Yahweh has risen on you.

²For look! darkness shall cover the earth,

and thick darkness the peoples,

but^a Yahweh will rise on you,

and his glory will appear over you.

³And nations shall come to your light,

and kings to the bright light of your sunrise.

⁴Lift up your eyes all around and see!

All of them gather; they come to you.

Your sons shall come from afar,

and your daughters shall be looked after on the hip.

⁵Then you shall see

and you shall be radiant;

and your heart shall tremble

and open itself wide,

because the abundance of the sea shall fall upon you;

the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

⁶A multitude of camels shall cover you,

the young male camels of Midian and Ephah.

All those from Sheba shall come;

they shall bring gold and frankincense,

and they shall proclaim the praise of Yahweh.

⁷All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;

the rams of Nebaioth shall serve you.

They shall present a sacrifice for favor on my altar,

and I will glorify my honorable house.^b

⁸Who are these? They fly like a cloud,

and like doves to their coops.

⁹Because the coastlands wait for me,

and the ships of Tarshish are first

to bring your children from afar,

their silver and gold with them,

for the name of Yahweh your God,

and for the holy one of Israel, because he has glorified you.

¹⁰And foreigners^c shall build your walls,

and their kings shall serve you,

for in my anger I struck you,

but^d in my favor I have taken pity on you.

¹¹And your gates shall continually be open,

day and night they shall not be shut,

to bring you the wealth of nations,

and their kings shall be led.

¹²For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve you shall perish,

and the nations shall be utterly devastated.

¹³The glory of Lebanon shall come to you;

the cypress, the plane, and the pine together,

to glorify the place of my sanctuary,

and I will do honor to the place of my feet.

¹⁴And the children of those who oppressed you shall come to you bending low,

and all those who treated you disrespectfully shall bow down at the soles of your feet.

And they shall call you the city of Yahweh,

Zion of the holy one of Israel.

¹⁵Instead of you being forsaken

and hated with no one passing through,^e

I will make^f you an everlasting object of pride,^g

a joy of coming generations.^h

¹⁶And you shall suck the milk of nations,

and suck the breast of kings,

and you shall know that I am Yahweh your Savior,

and your Redeemer, the Strong One of Jacob.

¹⁷Instead of bronze I will bring gold,

and instead of iron I will bring silver,

and instead of wood, bronze,

and instead of stones, iron.

And I will appointⁱ peace as your overseer,

and righteousness as your ruling body.^j

¹⁸Violence shall no longer be heard in your land;

devastation or^k destruction on your borders.

And you shall call your walls Salvation,

and your gates, Praise.

¹⁹The sun shall no longer be your light by day,

and for bright light the moon shall not give you light,

but^l Yahweh will be your everlasting light,

and your God your glory.

²⁰Your sun shall no longer go down,

and your moon shall not wane,^m

for Yahweh himself will be your everlasting light,

and your days of mourning shall come to an end.

²¹And all your people shall be righteous;

they shall take possession of the land forever,

the shoot of hisⁿ planting,

the work of my hands, to show my glory.

²²The small one shall become a tribe,

and the smallest one a mighty nation.

I am Yahweh; I will hasten it in its time.”

The Year of Yahweh’s Favor

61The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me,

because Yahweh has anointed me,

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,

to bind up the brokenhearted,^a

to proclaim^b release to the captives

and liberation to those who are bound,

²to proclaim^c the year of Yahweh’s favor,

and our God’s day of vengeance,

to comfort all those in mourning,

³to give^d for those in mourning in Zion,

to give them…