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 with a full throat, spare not, like the cornet lift up thy voice, and declare unto my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

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.”

Yet me do they ever seek day by day, and to know my ways do they always desire; as a nation that hath done righteousness, and hath not forsaken the ordinance of their God: continually do they ask of me the ordinances of justice—do they desire to draw nigh unto 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.

“Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest it not? have we afflicted our soul, and thou regardest it not?” Behold, on the day of your fasting ye follow your business, and all your acquired gains do ye exact.

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.

Behold, for contention and strife do ye fast, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye fast not so at this day, to cause your voice to be heard on high.

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?

Is such then the fast which I can choose? a day that a man afflicteth his soul? to bend his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes for his couch? wilt thou call this a fast, and a day of acceptability unto the Lord?

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?

Is not this [rather] the fast that I will choose? to open the snares of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye should break asunder every yoke?

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?

Is it not to distribute thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the afflicted poor into thy house! when thou seest the naked, that thou clothe him; and that thou hide not thyself from thy own flesh?

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 break forth as the morning-dawn thy light, and thy healing shall speedily spring forth; and before thee shall go thy righteousness, the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.

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 shalt thou call, and the Lord will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here am I. If thou remove from the midst of thee the yoke, the stretching out of the finger, and speaking wickedly;

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 thou pour out to the hungry thy soul, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall shine forth in the darkness thy light, and thy obscurity be as the noonday;

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 the Lord will guide thee continually, and will satisfy thy soul in times of famine, and will strengthen thy bones; and thou shalt be like a well-watered garden, and like a spring of water, the waters of which will never deceive.

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 they that spring from thee shall build up the ancient ruins; the foundations of many generations shalt thou raise up again: and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breaches, The restorer of paths to the dwelling-place.

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 thou restrain thy foot for the sake of the sabbath, not doing thy business on my holy day; and if thou call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord, honorable; and honor it by not doing thy usual pursuits, by not following thy own business, and speaking [vain] words:

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 shalt thou find delight in the Lord; and I will cause thee to tread upon the high places of the earth, and I will cause thee to enjoy the inheritance of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.