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They say, ‘To honor you we had special days when we fasted,
    but you didn’t see.
We humbled ourselves to honor you,
    but you didn’t notice.’”

But the Lord says, “You do what pleases yourselves on these special days,
    and you are unfair to your workers.
On these special days when you fast, you argue and fight
    and hit each other with your fists.
You cannot do these things as you do now
    and believe your prayers are heard in heaven.
This kind of special day is not what I want.
    This is not the way I want people to be sorry for what they have done.
I don’t want people just to bow their heads like a plant
    and wear rough cloth and lie in ashes to show their sadness.
This is what you do on your special days when you fast,
    but do you think this is what the Lord wants?

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‘Why have we fasted,’(A) they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled(B) ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’(C)

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please(D)
    and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,(E)
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard(F) on high.
Is this the kind of fast(G) I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble(H) themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed(I)
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?(J)
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

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