Isaiæ 58
1 clama ne cesses quasi tuba exalta vocem tuam et adnuntia populo meo scelera eorum et domui Iacob peccata eorum
Make a loud cry, do not be quiet, let your voice be sounding like a horn, and make clear to my people their evil doings, and to the family of Jacob their sins.
2 me etenim de die in diem quaerunt et scire vias meas volunt quasi gens quae iustitiam fecerit et quae iudicium Dei sui non reliquerit rogant me iudicia iustitiae adpropinquare Deo volunt
Though they make prayer to me every day, and take pleasure in the knowledge of my ways: like a nation which has done righteousness, and has not given up the rules of their God, they make requests to me for the right orders, it is their delight to come near to God.
3 quare ieiunavimus et non aspexisti humiliavimus animam nostram et nescisti ecce in die ieiunii vestri invenitur voluntas et omnes debitores vestros repetitis
They say, Why have we kept ourselves from food, and you do not see it? why have we kept ourselves from pleasure, and you take no note of it? If, in the days when you keep from food, you take the chance to do your business, and get in your debts;
4 ecce ad lites et contentiones ieiunatis et percutitis pugno impie nolite ieiunare sicut usque ad hanc diem ut audiatur in excelso clamor vester
If keeping from food makes you quickly angry, ready for fighting and giving blows with evil hands; your holy days are not such as to make your voice come to my ears on high.
5 numquid tale est ieiunium quod elegi per diem adfligere hominem animam suam numquid contorquere quasi circulum caput suum et saccum et cinerem sternere numquid istud vocabis ieiunium et diem acceptabilem Domino
Have I given orders for such a day as this? a day for keeping yourselves from pleasure? is it only a question of the bent head, of putting on haircloth, and being seated in the dust? is this what seems to you a holy day, well-pleasing to the Lord?
6 nonne hoc est magis ieiunium quod elegi dissolve conligationes impietatis solve fasciculos deprimentes dimitte eos qui confracti sunt liberos et omne onus disrumpe
Is not this the holy day for which I have given orders: to let loose those who have wrongly been made prisoners, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the crushed go free, and every yoke be broken?
7 frange esurienti panem tuum et egenos vagosque induc in domum tuam cum videris nudum operi eum et carnem tuam ne despexeris
Is it not to give your bread to those in need, and to let the poor who have no resting-place come into your house? to put a robe on the unclothed one when you see him, and not to keep your eyes shut for fear of seeing his flesh?
8 tunc erumpet quasi mane lumen tuum et sanitas tua citius orietur et anteibit faciem tuam iustitia tua et gloria Domini colliget te
Then will light be shining on you like the morning, and your wounds will quickly be well: and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will come after you.
9 tunc invocabis et Dominus exaudiet clamabis et dicet ecce adsum si abstuleris de medio tui catenam et desieris digitum extendere et loqui quod non prodest
Then at the sound of your voice, the Lord will give an answer; at your cry he will say, Here am I. If you take away from among you the yoke, the putting out of the finger of shame, and the evil word;
10 cum effuderis esurienti animam tuam et animam adflictam repleveris orietur in tenebris lux tua et tenebrae tuae erunt sicut meridies
And if you give your bread to those in need of it, so that the troubled one may have his desire; then you will have light in the dark, and your night will be as the full light of the sun:
11 et requiem tibi dabit Dominus semper et implebit splendoribus animam tuam et ossa tua liberabit et eris quasi hortus inriguus et sicut fons aquarum cuius non deficient aquae
And the Lord will be your guide at all times; in dry places he will give you water in full measure, and will make strong your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like an ever-flowing spring.
12 et aedificabuntur in te deserta saeculorum fundamenta generationis et generationis suscitabis et vocaberis aedificator sepium avertens semitas in quietem
And your sons will be building again the old waste places: you will make strong the bases of old generations: and you will be named, He who puts up the broken walls, and, He who makes ready the ways for use.
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 keep the Sabbath with care, not doing your business on my holy day; and if the Sabbath seems to you a delight, and the new moon of the Lord a thing to be honoured; and if you give respect to him by not doing your business, or going after your pleasure, or saying unholy words;
14 tunc delectaberis super Domino et sustollam te super altitudines terrae et cibabo te hereditate Iacob patris tui os enim Domini locutum est
Then the Lord will be your delight; and I will put you on the high places of the earth; and I will give you the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the Lord has said it.
