Isaiah 58:5–10

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.

⁸Then your light will shine like the dawn,

and your wounds will quickly heal.

Your God will walk before you,

and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

⁹Then you will call out, and the Lord will answer.

You will cry out, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you stop making trouble for others,

if you stop using cruel words and pointing your finger at others,

¹⁰if you feed those who are hungry

and take care of the needs of those who are troubled,

then your light will shine in the darkness,

and you will be bright like sunshine at noon.