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