Isaiah 58

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.”