Isaiah 58:1–7

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