Isaiæ 58

1 Clama, ne cesses, quasi tuba exalta vocem tuam, et annuncia populo meo scelera eorum, et domui Iacob peccata eorum.

“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Me etenim de die in diem quærunt, et scire vias meas volunt: quasi gens, quæ iustitiam fecerit, et iudicium Dei sui non dereliquerit: rogant me iudicia iustitiæ: appropinquare Deo volunt.

For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”

3 Quare ieiunavimus, et non aspexisti: humiliavimus animas nostras, et nescisti? Ecce in die ieiunii vestri invenitur voluntas vestra, et omnes debitores vestros repetitis.

“Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.

4 Ecce ad lites et contentiones ieiunatis, et percutitis pugno impie. Nolite ieiunare sicut usque ad hanc diem, ut audiatur in excelso clamor vester.

You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.

5 Numquid tale est ieiunium, quod elegi, per diem affligere hominem animam suam? numquid contorquere quasi circulum caput suum, et saccum et cinerem sternere? numquid istud vocabis ieiunium, et diem acceptabilem Domino?

Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?

6 Nonne hoc est magis ieiunium, quod elegi? dissolve colligationes impietatis, solve fasciculos deprimentes, dimitte eos, qui confracti sunt, liberos, et omne onus dirumpe.

Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke?

7 Frange esurienti panem tuum, et egenos, vagosque induc in domum tuam: cum videris nudum, operi eum, et carnem tuam ne despexeris.

Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Tunc erumpet quasi mane lumen tuum, et sanitas tua citius orietur, et anteibit faciem tuam iustitia tua, et gloria Domini colliget te.

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Tunc invocabis, et Dominus exaudiet: clamabis, et dicet: Ecce adsum. si abstuleris de medio tui catenam, et desieris extendere digitum, et loqui quod non prodest.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,

10 Cum effuderis esurienti animam tuam, et animam afflictam repleveris, orietur in tenebris lux tua, et tenebræ tuæ erunt sicut meridies.

and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will go forth in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.

11 Et requiem tibi dabit Dominus semper, et implebit splendoribus animam tuam, et ossa tua liberabit, et eris quasi hortus irriguus, et sicut fons aquarum, cuius non deficient aquæ.

The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Et ædificabuntur in te deserta sæculorum: fundamenta generationis et generationis suscitabis: et vocaberis ædificator sepium, avertens semitas in quietem.

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.

13 Si averteris a sabbato pedem tuum, facere voluntatem tuam in die sancto meo, et vocaveris sabbatum delicatum, et sanctum Domini gloriosum, et glorificaveris eum dum non facis vias tuas, et non invenitur voluntas tua, ut loquaris sermonem:

If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath, from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable, if you honor it by not going your own way or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,

14 Tunc delectaberis super Domino, et sustollam te super altitudines terræ, et cibabo te hereditate Iacob patris tui. os enim Domini locutum est.

then you will delight yourself in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.”