Isaiah 58:1–7

Observances of Fasts

¹“^aCry loudly, do not hold back;

Raise your voice like a trumpet,

And declare to My people their ^btransgression

And to the house of Jacob their sins.

²“Yet they ^aseek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,

As a nation that has done ^brighteousness

And ^chas not forsaken the ordinance of their God.

They ask Me for just decisions,

They delight ^din the nearness of God.

³‘Why have we ^afasted and You do not see?

Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not ¹notice?’

Behold, on the ^bday of your fast you find your desire,

And drive hard all your workers.

⁴“Behold, you fast for contention and ^astrife and to strike with a wicked fist.

You do not fast like you do today to ^bmake your voice heard on high.

⁵“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?

Is it for bowing ¹one’s head like a reed

And for spreading out ^asackcloth and ashes as a bed?

Will you call this a fast, even an ^bacceptable day to the Lord?

⁶“Is this not the fast which I choose,

To ^aloosen the bonds of wickedness,

To undo the bands of the yoke,

And to ^blet the oppressed go free

And ^cbreak every yoke?

⁷“Is it not to ^adivide your bread ¹with the hungry

And ^bbring the homeless poor into the house;

When you see the ^cnaked, to cover him;

And not to ^dhide yourself from your own flesh?