Isaiah 58:1-10
Holman Christian Standard Bible
True Fasting
58 “Cry out loudly,[a] don’t hold back!
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Tell My people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 They seek Me day after day
and delight to know My ways,
like a nation that does what is right
and does not abandon the justice of their God.
They ask Me for righteous judgments;
they delight in the nearness of God.”(A)
3 “Why have we fasted, but You have not seen?(B)
We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed!”[b]
“Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast,
and oppress all your workers.(C)
4 You fast with contention and strife
to strike viciously with your fist.
You cannot fast as you do today,
hoping to make your voice heard on high.
5 Will the fast I choose be like this:
A day for a person to deny himself,
to bow his head like a reed,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes?(D)
Will you call this a fast
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 Isn’t the fast I choose:
To break the chains of wickedness,(E)
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
and to tear off every yoke?(F)
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,(G)
to bring the poor and homeless into your house,
to clothe the naked when you see him,(H)
and not to ignore[c] your own flesh and blood?(I)
8 Then your light will appear like the dawn,
and your recovery will come quickly.(J)
Your righteousness will go before you,(K)
and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.(L)
9 At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer;(M)
when you cry out, He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you get rid of the yoke among you,[d]
the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,(N)
10 and if you offer yourself[e] to the hungry,
and satisfy the afflicted one,
then your light will shine in the darkness,(O)
and your night will be like noonday.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 58:1 Lit with throat
- Isaiah 58:3 These are Israel’s words to God.
- Isaiah 58:7 Lit not hide yourself from
- Isaiah 58:9 Lit yoke from your midst
- Isaiah 58:10 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr read offer your bread
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