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Isaiah 58:1-5
New Century Version
Isaiah 58:1-5
New Century Version
How to Honor God
58 The Lord says, “Shout out loud. Don’t hold back.
Shout out loud like a trumpet.
Tell my people what they have done against their God;
tell the family of Jacob about their sins.
2 They still come every day looking for me
and want to learn my ways.
They act just like a nation that does what is right,
that obeys the commands of its God.
They ask me to judge them fairly.
They want God to be near them.
3 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.
4 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.
5 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?
Isaiah 58:1-5
New International Version
Isaiah 58:1-5
New International Version
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)
2 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.
3 ‘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.
4 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.
5 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?
New Century Version (NCV) 
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.