Isaiah 58:1–7

How to Honor God

58The Lord says, “Shout out loud. Don’t hold back.

Shout out loud like a trumpet.

Tell my people what they have done against their God;

tell the family of Jacob about their sins.

²They still come every day looking for me

and want to learn my ways.

They act just like a nation that does what is right,

that obeys the commands of its God.

They ask me to judge them fairly.

They want God to be near them.

³They say, ‘To honor you we had special days when we fasted,

but you didn’t see.

We humbled ourselves to honor you,

but you didn’t notice.’ ”

But the Lord says, “You do what pleases yourselves on these special days,

and you are unfair to your workers.

⁴On these special days when you fast, you argue and fight

and hit each other with your fists.

You cannot do these things as you do now

and believe your prayers are heard in heaven.

⁵This kind of special day is not what I want.

This is not the way I want people to be sorry for what they have done.

I don’t want people just to bow their heads like a plant

and wear rough cloth and lie in ashes to show their sadness.

This is what you do on your special days when you fast,

but do you think this is what the Lord wants?

⁶“I will tell you the kind of fast I want:

Free the people you have put in prison unfairly

and undo their chains.

Free those to whom you are unfair

and stop their hard labor.

⁷Share your food with the hungry

and bring poor, homeless people into your own homes.

When you see someone who has no clothes, give him yours,

and don’t refuse to help your own relatives.