Isaiah 58

1 “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.

Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their wicked doings, and the house of Jacob their sins.

2 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.

For they seek me from day to day, sad desire to know my ways, as a nation that hath done justice, and hath not forsaken the judgment of their God: they ask of me the judgments of justice: they are willing to approach to God.

3 '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.

Why have we fasted, and thou hast not regarded: have we humbled our souls, and thou hast not taken notice? Behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors.

4 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.

Behold you fast for debates and strife. and strike with the fist wickedly. Do not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry to be heard on high.

5 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?

Is this such a fast as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a day? is this it, to wind his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 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?

Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden.

7 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.

Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh.

8 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.

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up.

9 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,

Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not.

10 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.

When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday.

11 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.

And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail.

12 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.”

And the places that have been desolate for ages shall be built in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundations of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the repairer of the fences, turning the paths into rest.

13 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.

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy own will in my holy day, and call the sabbath delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify him, while thou dost not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found: to speak a word:

14 “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.”

Then shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.