Isaiah 58

1 “Call with the throat, do not restrain, lift up your voice as a horn, And declare to My people their transgression, And to the house of Jacob their sins;

“Cry loudly; do not hold back. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Confront my people with their rebellion, and the house of Jacob with their sins.

2 They seek Me day by day, And they desire the knowledge of My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness, And has not forsaken the judgment of its God, They ask of Me judgments of righteousness, They desire the drawing near of God:

Yet they seek me daily and delight in the knowledge of my ways, like a nation that practiced righteousness and did not abandon the law of their God. They ask me for righteous judgments; they take pleasure in the thought of God coming near.

3 Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? We have afflicted our soul, and You do not know. Behold, you find pleasure in the day of your fast, And exact all your laborers.

'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'but you do not see it? Why have we humbled ourselves, but you do not notice?' Look, on the day of your fast you find your own pleasure and oppress all your laborers.

4 Behold, you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness, You do not fast as [this] day, To sound your voice in the high place.

Look, you fast to quarrel and fight, and to hit with your fist of wickedness; you do not fast today to make your voice heard above.

5 Is this like the fast that I choose? The day of a man’s afflicting his soul? To bow his head as a reed, And spread out sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, And a desirable day—to YHWH?

Is this really the kind of fast that I would want: A day for anybody to humble himself, for him to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself? Do you really call this a fast, a day that pleases Yahweh?

6 Is this not the fast that I chose—To loose the bands of wickedness, To shake off the burdens of the yoke, And to send out the oppressed free, And draw off every yoke?

Is not this the fast that I choose: To release wicked bonds, to undo the ropes of the yoke, to set the crushed ones free, and to break every yoke?

7 Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, And bring home the wandering poor, That you see the naked and cover him, And do not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Is it not to break your bread with the hungry and to bring the poor and homeless into your house?” When you see someone naked, you should clothe him; and you should not hide yourself from your own relatives.

8 Then your light breaks forth as the dawn, And your health springs up in haste, Your righteousness has gone before you, The glory of YHWH gathers you.

Then your light would be broken open like the sunrise, and your healing would quickly sprout up; your righteousness would go before you, and the glory of Yahweh would be your rearguard.

9 Then you call, and YHWH answers, You cry, and He says, Behold Me. If you turn aside the yoke from your midst, The sending forth of the finger, And the speaking of vanity,

Then you would call, and Yahweh would answer; you would cry out for help, and he would say, “Here I am.” If you take away from among yourselves the yoke, the accusing finger, and the speech of wickedness,

10 And bring out your soul to the hungry, And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light has risen in the darkness, And your thick darkness [is] as noon.

if you yourselves provide for the hungry and satisfy the need of the distressed; then your light will rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be like the noonday.

11 And YHWH continually leads you, And has satisfied your soul in drought, And He arms your bones, And you have been as a watered garden, And as an outlet of waters, whose waters do not lie.

Then Yahweh will lead you continually and satisfy you in regions where there is no water, and he will strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.

12 And they have built the ancient ruins from you, You raise up the foundations of many generations, And one calls you, Repairer of the breach, Restorer of paths to rest in.

Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will raise up the ruins of many generations; you will be called “The repairer of the wall,” “The restorer of streets to live on.”

13 If you turn your foot from the Sabbath, [From] doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And have cried to the Sabbath, A delight, To the holy of YHWH, Honored, And have honored it, without doing your own ways, Without finding your own pleasure, And speaking a word.

Suppose that you turn back your feet from traveling on the Sabbath day, and from doing your own pleasure on my holy day. Suppose that you call the Sabbath a delight, and that you call the matters of Yahweh holy and honored. Suppose that you honor the Sabbath by leaving your own business, and by not finding your own pleasure and by not speaking your own words.

14 Then you delight yourself on YHWH, And I have caused you to ride on high places of earth, And have caused you to eat the inheritance of your father Jacob, For the mouth of YHWH has spoken!”

“Then you will find delight in Yahweh; and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you from the inheritance of Jacob your father—for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”