Esias 58

1 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.

“Cry aloud! Do not spare! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 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,

Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments. They delight to draw near to God.

3 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.

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you do not see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you do not notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your laborers.

4 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?

Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You do not fast today so as to make your voice to be heard on high.

5 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.

Is this the fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to humble his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

6 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.

“Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?

7 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.

Is not it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?

8 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.

Then your light will break out as the morning, and your healing will appear quickly; then your righteousness shall go before you, and the LORD’s glory will be your rear guard.

9 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;

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away from among you the yoke, finger pointing, and speaking wickedly;

10 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:

and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will be as the noonday;

11 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.

and the LORD will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

12 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.

Those who will be of you will build the old waste places. You will raise up the foundations of many generations. You will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Paths with Dwellings.

13 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,

“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of the LORD honorable, and honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,

14 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.

then you will delight yourself in the LORD, and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father;” for the LORD’s mouth has spoken it.