Isaiah 58:1–7

True Fasting

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

Raise your voice like a trumpet.^v

Declare to my people their rebellion^w

and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.^x

²For day after day they seek^y me out;

they seem eager to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that does what is right

and has not forsaken^z the commands of its God.

They ask me for just decisions

and seem eager for God to come near^a them.

³‘Why have we fasted,’^b they say,

‘and you have not seen it?

Why have we humbled^c ourselves,

and you have not noticed?’^d

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please^e

and exploit all your workers.

⁴Your 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 heard^g on high.

⁵Is this the kind of fast^h I have chosen,

only a day for people to humbleⁱ themselves?

Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed^j

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 fasting^l I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice^m

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressedⁿ free

and break every yoke?^o

⁷Is it not to share your food with the hungry^p

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter^q—

when you see the naked, to clothe^r them,

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