True Fasting

58 “Shout it aloud,u do not hold back.

Raise your voice like a trumpet.v

Declare to my people their rebellionw

and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.x

2 For day after day they seeky me out;

they seem eager to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that does what is right

and has not forsakenz the commands of its God.

They ask me for just decisions

and seem eager for God to come neara them.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’b they say,

‘and you have not seen it?

Why have we humbledc ourselves,

and you have not noticed?’d

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you pleasee

and exploit all your workers.

4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,f

and in striking each other with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today

and expect your voice to be heardg on high.

5 Is this the kind of fasth I have chosen,

only a day for people to humblei themselves?

Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reedj

and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?k

Is that what you call a fast,

a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 “Is not this the kind of fastingl I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injusticem

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressedn free

and break every yoke?o

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungryp

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelterq—

when you see the naked, to clother them,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?s

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,t

and your healingu will quickly appear;

then your righteousnessa v will go before you,

and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.w

9 Then you will call,x and the Lord will answer;y

you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing fingerz and malicious talk,a

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,b

then your lightc will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.d

11 The Lord will guidee you always;

he will satisfy your needsf in a sun-scorched landg

and will strengthenh your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,i

like a springj whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruinsk

and will raise up the age-old foundations;l

you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,m

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbathn

and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delighto

and the Lord’s holy day honorable,

and if you honor it by not going your own way

and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,p

14 then you will find your joyq in the Lord,

and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heightsr of the land

and to feast on the inheritances of your father Jacob.”

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.t

A Prophecy Against Cush

18 Woey to the land of whirring wingsa

along the rivers of Cush,b z

2 which sends envoysa by sea

in papyrusb boats over the water.

Go, swift messengers,

to a people tall and smooth-skinned,c

to a people feared far and wide,

an aggressived nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers.e

3 All you people of the world,f

you who live on the earth,

when a bannerg is raised on the mountains,

you will see it,

and when a trumpeth sounds,

you will hear it.

4 This is what the Lord says to me:

“I will remain quieti and will look on from my dwelling place,j

like shimmering heat in the sunshine,k

like a cloud of dewl in the heat of harvest.”

5 For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone

and the flower becomes a ripening grape,

he will cut offm the shoots with pruning knives,

and cut down and take away the spreading branches.n

6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of preyo

and to the wild animals;p

the birds will feed on them all summer,

the wild animals all winter.

7 At that time giftsq will be brought to the Lord Almighty

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,r

from a people feareds far and wide,

an aggressive nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by riverst—

the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.u

A Prophecy Against Egypt

19 A prophecyv against Egypt:w

See, the Lord rides on a swift cloudx

and is coming to Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him,

and the hearts of the Egyptians melty with fear.

2 “I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—

brother will fight against brother,z

neighbor against neighbor,

city against city,

kingdom against kingdom.a

3 The Egyptians will lose heart,b

and I will bring their plansc to nothing;d

they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,

the mediums and the spiritists.e

4 I will hand the Egyptians over

to the power of a cruel master,

and a fierce kingf will rule over them,”

declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

5 The waters of the river will dry up,g

and the riverbed will be parched and dry.h

6 The canals will stink;i

the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.j

The reedsk and rushes will wither,l

7 also the plantsm along the Nile,

at the mouth of the river.

Every sown fieldn along the Nile

will become parched, will blow away and be no more.o

8 The fishermenp will groan and lament,

all who cast hooksq into the Nile;

those who throw nets on the water

will pine away.

9 Those who work with combed flaxr will despair,

the weavers of fine linens will lose hope.

10 The workers in cloth will be dejected,

and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

11 The officials of Zoant are nothing but fools;

the wise counselorsu of Pharaoh give senseless advice.v

How can you say to Pharaoh,

“I am one of the wise men,w

a disciple of the ancient kings”?

12 Where are your wise menx now?

Let them show you and make known

what the Lord Almighty

has plannedy against Egypt.

13 The officials of Zoanz have become fools,

the leaders of Memphisa are deceived;

the cornerstonesb of her peoples

have led Egypt astray.

14 The Lord has poured into them

a spirit of dizziness;c

they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,

as a drunkard staggersd around in his vomit.

15 There is nothing Egypt can do—

head or tail, palm branch or reed.e

16 In that dayf the Egyptians will become weaklings.g They will shudder with fearh at the uplifted handi that the Lord Almighty raises against them. 17 And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified,j because of what the Lord Almighty is planningk against them.

18 In that dayl five citiesm in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiancen to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.a o

19 In that dayp there will be an altarq to the Lord in the heart of Egypt,r and a monuments to the Lord at its border. 20 It will be a sign and witnesst to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savioru and defender, and he will rescuev them. 21 So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledgew the Lord. They will worshipx with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them.y 22 The Lord will strikez Egypt with a plague;a he will strike them and heal them. They will turnb to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and healc them.

23 In that dayd there will be a highwaye from Egypt to Assyria.f The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worshipg together. 24 In that dayh Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria,i a blessingb j on the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will blessk them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people,l Assyria my handiwork,m and Israel my inheritance.n”