58 1 The office of God’s ministers. 2 The works of the hypocrites. 6 The fast of the faithful. 13 Of the true Sabbath.

Cry [a]aloud, spare not: lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

Yet they [b]seek me daily, and will know my ways, even as a nation that did righteously, and had not forsaken the statutes of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice: they will draw near unto God, saying,

[c]Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest it not? we have punished ourselves, and thou regardest it not. Behold, in the day of your fast you will seek [d]your will, and require all your debts.

Behold, ye fast to strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do today, to make your voice to be [e]heard above.

Is it such a fast that I have chosen, that a man should afflict his soul for a day, and to bow down his head, as a bull rush, and to lie down in sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fasting, or an acceptable day to the Lord?

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 58:1 The Lord thus speaketh to the Prophet, willing him to use all diligence and severity to rebuke the hypocrites.
  2. Isaiah 58:2 They will seem to worship me and have outward holiness.
  3. Isaiah 58:3 He setteth forth the malice and disdain of the hypocrites, which grudge against God, if their works be not accepted.
  4. Isaiah 58:3 Thus he convinceth the hypocrites by the second table, and by their duty toward their neighbor, that they have neither faith nor religion.
  5. Isaiah 58:4 So long as you use contention and oppression, your fasting and prayers shall not be heard.

True Fasting

58 “Shout it aloud,(A) do not hold back.
    Raise your voice like a trumpet.(B)
Declare to my people their rebellion(C)
    and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.(D)
For day after day they seek(E) me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken(F) the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
    and seem eager for God to come near(G) them.
‘Why have we fasted,’(H) they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled(I) ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’(J)

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

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