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, do not spare, Like a horn, lift high thy voice, —And declare To 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—day by day, do they seek, And in the knowledge of my ways, they delight, —Like a nation that had done righteousness, And the justice of their God, had not forsaken They ask of me the just regulations, In approaching God, they delight.
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 hast not seen? Humbled our soul, and thou wouldst take no note? Lo! in the day of your fast, ye take pleasure, But all your toilers, ye drive on!
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.
Lo! for strife and contention, ye fast, And to smite with the fist of lawlessness, —Ye shall not fast as to-day, To cause to be heard on high your voice!
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?
Like this, shall the fast be that I choose, A day for the son of earth to humble his soul? Is it to bow down as a rush his head, And sackcloth and ashes, to spread out? Is it, this, thou wilt call a fast, Or a day of acceptance with Yahweh?
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, the fast that I must ever choose—To unbind the tight cords of lawlessness, To unloose the bands of the yoke, —and To let the crushed go free, and That every yoke, ye tear off?
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 break unto the hungry, thy bread, And the thrust-out oppressed, that thou bring into a home, —When thou seest one naked, that thou cover him, And from thine own flesh, shalt not hide thyself?
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 dawn, thy light, And thy new flesh shall speedily grow, —Then shall go before thee, thy righteousness, the glory of Yahweh shall bring up thy rear:
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 Yahweh, will answer, Cry out, and he will say, Behold me! If thou remove, out of thy midst the yoke, The pointing of the finger, and The speaking of iniquity;
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 shalt let thine own soul go out to the hungry, And the soul of the oppressed, thou shalt satisfy, Then shall break forth in darkness thy light, And thy thick darkness, become as the splendour of noon;
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.
Then will Yahweh guide thee continually, And will satisfy, [even] in scorched regions thine own soul, Yea thy very bones, will he invigorate, —So shall thou become like a garden well—watered, And like a spring of water whose waters do not 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 who come of thee shall build the wastes of age-past times, And as for the foundations of generation after generation, thou shalt rear them up, —So shalt thou be called—A Repairer of broken walls, A Restorer of paths leading home.
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 turn back. From the sabbath thy foot, From doing thine own pleasure on my holy day, —And shall call—The sabbath, An exquisite delight, The holy day of Yahweh, A day to be honoured, And so shall honour it rather—Than do thine own ways, Than take thine own pleasure or Than speak thine own word,
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 rest thine own exquisite delight upon Yahweh, …And I will cause thee to ride over the high places of the land, —And will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father, For the mouth of Yahweh, hath spoken.
