Isaiah 58
1 Cry aloud, spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
Give a roar from the throat! Don't hold back! Shout out like a trumpet! Announce to my people how rebellious they are; denounce to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.
Every day they come to me, pleased to know my ways as if they were a nation that does what is right and follow the laws of their God! They ask me to treat them right; they like to be close to their God.
3 Why have we fasted, they say, and thou see not? We have afflicted our soul, and thou take no knowledge. Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact from all your laborers.
“Didn't you see that we fasted?” they ask. “Didn't you notice how we denied ourselves?” That's because whenever you fast you still do whatever you want, and you treat your workers badly.
4 Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye do not fast this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high.
Can't you see that when you're fasting you quarrel and argue, and end up having a vicious fist-fight? When you fast like this you can't expect your prayers to be heard on high!
5 Is such the fast that I have chosen, the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Jehovah?
Is this the kind of fast I want when people act out their humility by bowing their heads down like a reed and by lying around in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day the Lord appreciates?
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
No, this is the fast I want: set free those who have been unjustly imprisoned, untie the cords of the yoke used to burden people, set free those who are oppressed, and get rid of every form of abuse.
7 Is it not to deal thy bread to a hungry man, and that thou bring the poor who are cast out to thy house, when thou see a naked man, that thou cover him, and that thou not hide thyself from thine own flesh?
Share your food with the hungry, take the poor and homeless into your house. When you see people naked, give them clothes, and don't reject your own relatives.
8 Then thy light shall break forth as the morning, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily. And thy righteousness shall go before thee. The glory of Jehovah shall be thy rearward.
Then your light will shine out like the dawn, and you will be healed quickly; your salvation will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will go behind you.
9 Then thou shall call, and Jehovah will answer, thou shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. If thou take the yoke away from the midst of thee, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly,
Then when you call, the Lord will answer; when you cry out for help, the Lord will say, “I'm here.” If you get rid of oppression among you, if you stop pointing the finger and slandering others,
10 and if thou draw out thy soul to a hungry man, and satisfy an afflicted soul, then thy light shall rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noonday.
if you dedicate yourselves to helping the hungry and give the poor what they need, then your light will shine out in the darkness, and your night will be like the sun at noon.
11 And Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in dry places, and make strong thy bones. And thou shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
The Lord will always lead you; he will give you all you need in you in a desolate land; he will make you strong again. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring that never runs dry.
12 And those who shall be of thee shall build the old waste places. Thou shall raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shall be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Some among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore generations-old foundations. You will be called the Repairer of the Break in the Wall, the Restorer of Life's Pathways.
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of Jehovah honorable, and shall honor it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
If you make sure you don't break the Sabbath by doing whatever you please on my holy day, if you say the Sabbath brings you pleasure and the Lord's day is to be honored, and if you honor it by leaving aside your own ways, by not doing whatever you please, and by avoiding everyday chatting,
14 then thou shall delight thyself in Jehovah, and I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it.
then you'll find the Lord is the one who truly makes you happy, and I will give you high positions on the earth and give you what I promised to Jacob, your forefather. I, the Lord, have spoken.
