Isaiah 58

1 “Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.

Cry aloud, and spare not; lift up your voice as with a trumpet, and declare to my people their sins, and to the house of Jacob their iniquities.

2 For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”

They seek me day by day, and desire to know my ways, as a people that had done righteousness, and had not forsaken the judgment of their God: they now ask of me righteous judgment, and desire to draw near to God,

3 “Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.

saying, Why have we fasted, and you regard not? [why] have we afflicted our souls, and you did not know it? Nay, in the days of your fasts you find your pleasures, and all them that are under your power you wound.

4 You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.

If you fast for quarrels and strifes, and strike the lowly with [your] fists, therefore do you fast to me as [you do] this day, so that your voice may be heard in crying?

5 Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?

I have not chosen this fast, nor [such] a day for a man to afflict his soul; neither though you should bend down your neck as a ring, and spread under you sackcloth and ashes, neither thus shall you call a fast acceptable.

6 Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke?

I have not chosen such a fast, says the Lord; but do you loose every burden of iniquity, do you untie the knots of hard bargains, set the bruised free, and cancel every unjust account.

7 Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Break your bread to the hungry, and lead the unsheltered poor to your house: if you see one naked, clothe [him], and you shall not disregard the relations of your own seed.

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall speedily spring forth: and your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall compass you.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,

Then shall you cry, and God shall listen to you; while you are yet speaking he will say, Behold, I am here. If you remove from you the band, and the stretching forth of the hands, and murmuring speech;

10 and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will go forth in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.

and [if] you give bread to the hungry from your heart, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light spring up in darkness, and your darkness [shall be] as noon-day:

11 The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

and your God shall be with you continually, and you shall be satisfied according as your soul desires; and your bones shall be made fat, and shall be as a well-watered garden, and as a fountain [from] which the water has not failed.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.

And your old waste desert [places] shall be built up, and your foundations shall last through all generations; and you shall be called a repairer of breaches, and you shall cause your paths between to be in peace.

13 If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath, from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable, if you honor it by not going your own way or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,

If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, so as not to do your pleasure on the holy days, and shall call the sabbaths delightful, holy to God; [if] you shall not lift up your foot to work, nor speak a word in anger out of your mouth,

14 then you will delight yourself in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.”

then shall you trust on the Lord; and he shall bring you up to the good places of the land, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.