Isaiah 58

1 Cry out! Cease not! Exalt your voice like a trumpet, and announce to my people their wicked acts, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

Cry aloud, spare not, Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, And show my people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins!

2 For they also seek me, from day to day, and they are willing to know my ways, like a nation which has done justice and has not abandoned the judgment of their God. They petition me for judgments of justice. They are willing to draw near to God.

Yet they seek me daily, And desire to know my ways, As a nation that hath done righteousness, And hath not forsaken the ordinances of their God; They inquire of me concerning the judgments which bring salvation; They long for the coming of God.

3 “Why have we fasted, and you have not taken notice? Why have we humbled our souls, and you have not acknowledged it?” Behold, in the day of your fasting, your own will is found, and you petition for payment from all your debtors.

“Wherefore do we fast, and thou seest not? Wherefore do we afflict our souls, and thou dost not regard it?” Behold, in the day of your fasts ye pursue your pleasure, And exact all your labors.

4 Behold, you fast with strife and contention, and you strike with the fist impiously. Do not choose to fast as you have done even to this day. Then your outcry will be heard on high.

Behold, ye fast in strife and contention, And smiting with the fist of wickedness. Ye do not fast now So that your voice shall be heard on high.

5 Is this a fast such as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a day, to contort his head in a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? Should you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is this the fast that I approve, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it that he should bow down his head like a bulrush, And lie down in sackcloth and ashes? Wilt thou call this a fast, And a day acceptable to Jehovah?

6 Is not this, instead, the kind of fast that I have chosen? Release the constraints of impiety; relieve the burdens that oppress; freely forgive those who are broken; and break apart every burden.

Is not this the fast that I approve, —To loose the bands of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And to break in pieces every yoke?

7 Break your bread with the hungry, and lead the destitute and the homeless into your house. When you see someone naked, cover him, and do not despise your own flesh.

Is it not to break thy bread to the hungry, And to bring the poor, that are cast out, to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou clothe him, And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

8 Then your light will break forth like the morning, and your health will improve quickly, and your justice will go before your face, and the glory of the Lord will gather you up.

Then shall thy light break forth like the morning, And thy health shall spring forth speedily; Thy salvation shall go before thee, And the glory of Jehovah shall bring up thy rear.

9 Then you will call, and the Lord will heed; you will cry out, and he will say, “Here I am,” if you take away the chains from your midst, and cease to point your finger and to speak what is not beneficial.

Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Lo, here I am! If thou remove from the midst of thee the yoke, The pointing of the finger, and the injurious speech.

10 When you pour out your life for the hungry, and you satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise up in darkness, and your darkness will be like the midday.

If thou bring forth thy bread to the hungry, And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then in obscurity shall light arise to thee; Yea, thy darkness shall become as noonday;

11 And the Lord will give you rest continually, and he will fill your soul with splendor, and he will free your bones, and you will be like a watered garden and like a fountain of water whose waters will not fail.

Jehovah shall lead thee continually, And satisfy thee in the time of drought, And strengthen thy bones; Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and a spring of water, Whose waters never fail.

12 And places that have been desolate for ages will be built up by you. You will raise a foundation for generation after generation. And you will be called the repairer of hedges, who turns the roadways into quiet places.

Thy people shall build the ancient desolations, The ruins of many generations shall they restore; Thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of ways for inhabitants.

13 If you restrain your foot on the Sabbath, from doing your own will on my holy day, and if you call the Sabbath delightful, and the Holy of the Lord glorious, and if you glorify him, while you do not act according to your own ways, and your own will is not found, not even to speak a word,

If thou restrain thy foot from the sabbath, From doing thy pleasure on my holy day, If thou shalt call the sabbath a delight, The holy day of Jehovah honorable, And shalt honor it by refraining from thy work, From doing thy pleasure, and speaking vain words,

14 then you will find delight in the Lord, and I will take you up, above the heights of the earth, and I will nourish you with the inheritance of Jacob, your father. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah. And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, And cause thee to enjoy the inheritance of Jacob, thy father; For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.