Isaiæ 58
1 Clama, ne cesses, quasi tuba exalta vocem tuam, et annuntia populo meo scelera eorum, et domui Jacob peccata eorum.
Give a roar from the throat! Don't hold back! Shout out like a trumpet! Announce to my people how rebellious they are; denounce to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2 Me etenim de die in diem quærunt, et scire vias meas volunt, quasi gens quæ justitiam fecerit, et judicium Dei sui non dereliquerit. Rogant me judicia justitiæ; appropinquare Deo volunt.
Every day they come to me, pleased to know my ways as if they were a nation that does what is right and follow the laws of their God! They ask me to treat them right; they like to be close to their God.
3 Quare jejunavimus, et non aspexisti; humiliavimus animas nostras, et nescisti? Ecce in die jejunii vestri invenitur voluntas vestra, et omnes debitores vestros repetitis.
“Didn't you see that we fasted?” they ask. “Didn't you notice how we denied ourselves?” That's because whenever you fast you still do whatever you want, and you treat your workers badly.
4 Ecce ad lites et contentiones jejunatis, et percutitis pugno impie. Nolite jejunare sicut usque ad hanc diem, ut audiatur in excelso clamor vester.
Can't you see that when you're fasting you quarrel and argue, and end up having a vicious fist-fight? When you fast like this you can't expect your prayers to be heard on high!
5 Numquid tale est jejunium quod elegi, per diem affligere hominem animam suam? numquid contorquere quasi circulum caput suum, et saccum et cinerem sternere? numquid istud vocabis jejunium, et diem acceptabilem Domino?
Is this the kind of fast I want when people act out their humility by bowing their heads down like a reed and by lying around in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day the Lord appreciates?
6 Nonne hoc est magis jejunium quod elegi? Dissolve colligationes impietatis, solve fasciculos deprimentes, dimitte eos qui confracti sunt liberos, et omne onus dirumpe;
No, this is the fast I want: set free those who have been unjustly imprisoned, untie the cords of the yoke used to burden people, set free those who are oppressed, and get rid of every form of abuse.
7 frange esurienti panem tuum, et egenos vagosque induc in domum tuam; cum videris nudum, operi eum, et carnem tuam ne despexeris.
Share your food with the hungry, take the poor and homeless into your house. When you see people naked, give them clothes, and don't reject your own relatives.
8 Tunc erumpet quasi mane lumen tuum; et sanitas tua citius orietur, et anteibit faciem tuam justitia tua, et gloria Domini colliget te.
Then your light will shine out like the dawn, and you will be healed quickly; your salvation will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will go behind you.
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 when you call, the Lord will answer; when you cry out for help, the Lord will say, “I'm here.” If you get rid of oppression among you, if you stop pointing the finger and slandering others,
10 cum effuderis esurienti animam tuam, et animam afflictam repleveris, orietur in tenebris lux tua, et tenebræ tuæ erunt sicut meridies.
if you dedicate yourselves to helping the hungry and give the poor what they need, then your light will shine out in the darkness, and your night will be like the sun at noon.
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 cujus non deficient aquæ.
The Lord will always lead you; he will give you all you need in you in a desolate land; he will make you strong again. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring that never runs dry.
12 Et ædificabuntur in te deserta sæculorum, fundamenta generationis et generationis suscitabis; et vocaberis ædificator sepium, avertens semitas in quietem.
Some among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore generations-old foundations. You will be called the Repairer of the Break in the Wall, the Restorer of Life's Pathways.
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 make sure you don't break the Sabbath by doing whatever you please on my holy day, if you say the Sabbath brings you pleasure and the Lord's day is to be honored, and if you honor it by leaving aside your own ways, by not doing whatever you please, and by avoiding everyday chatting,
14 tunc delectaberis super Domino, et sustollam te super altitudines terræ, et cibabo te hæreditate Jacob patris tui: os enim Domini locutum est.
then you'll find the Lord is the one who truly makes you happy, and I will give you high positions on the earth and give you what I promised to Jacob, your forefather. I, the Lord, have spoken.
