Isaiah 58
1 “Cry aloud! Don’t spare! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
“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;
2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments. They delight to draw near to God.
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:
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your laborers.
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.
4 Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You don’t fast today so as to make your voice to be heard on high.
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.
5 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?
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?
6 “Isn’t 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?
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?
7 Isn’t 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?
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?
8 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.
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.
9 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;
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,
10 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;
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.
11 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 don’t fail.
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.
12 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.
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.
13 “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,
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.
14 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.
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!”
