Isaiah 58:6-12
New English Translation
6 No, this is the kind of fast I want:[a]
I want you[b] to remove the sinful chains,
to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke,
to set free the oppressed,[c]
and to break every burdensome yoke.
7 I want you[d] to share your food with the hungry
and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people.[e]
When you see someone naked, clothe them!
Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood.[f]
8 Then your light will shine like the sunrise;[g]
your restoration will quickly arrive;[h]
your godly behavior[i] will go before you,
and the Lord’s splendor will be your rear guard.[j]
9 Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond;
you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’
You must[k] remove the burdensome yoke from among you
and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.
10 You must[l] actively help the hungry
and feed the oppressed.[m]
Then your light will dispel the darkness,[n]
and your darkness will be transformed into noonday.[o]
11 The Lord will continually lead you;
he will feed you even in parched regions.[p]
He will give you renewed strength,[q]
and you will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring that continually produces water.
12 Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt;[r]
you will reestablish the ancient foundations.
You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls,
the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’[s]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 58:6 tn Heb “Is this not a fast I choose?” “No” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Isaiah 58:6 tn The words “I want you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Isaiah 58:6 tn Heb “crushed.”
- Isaiah 58:7 tn Heb “Is it not?” The rhetorical question here expects a positive answer, “It is!”
- Isaiah 58:7 tn Heb “and afflicted [ones], homeless [ones] you should bring [into] a house.” On the meaning of מְרוּדִים (merudim, “homeless”) see HALOT 633 s.v. *מָרוּד.
- Isaiah 58:7 tn Heb “and from your flesh do not hide yourself.”
- Isaiah 58:8 tn Heb “will burst out like the dawn.” sn Light here symbolizes God’s favor and restored blessing, as the immediately following context makes clear.
- Isaiah 58:8 tn Heb “prosper”; KJV “spring forth speedily.”
- Isaiah 58:8 tn Or “righteousness.” Their godly behavior will be on display for all to see.
- Isaiah 58:8 sn The nation will experience God’s protective presence.
- Isaiah 58:9 tn Heb “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 9b-10 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (multiple “if” clauses here) appears in vv. 9b-10a, with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 10b.
- Isaiah 58:10 tn Heb “if you.” See the note on “you must” in v. 9b.
- Isaiah 58:10 tn Heb “If you furnish for the hungry [with] your being, and the appetite of the oppressed you satisfy.”
- Isaiah 58:10 tn Heb “will rise in the darkness.”
- Isaiah 58:10 tn Heb “and your darkness [will be] like noonday.”
- Isaiah 58:11 tn Heb “he will satisfy in parched regions your appetite.”
- Isaiah 58:11 tn Heb “and your bones he will strengthen.”
- Isaiah 58:12 tn Heb “and they will build from you ancient ruins.”
- Isaiah 58:12 tc The Hebrew text has “the one who restores paths for dwelling.” The idea of “paths to dwell in” is not a common notion. Some have proposed emending נְתִיבוֹת (netivot, “paths”) to נְתִיצוֹת (netitsot, “ruins”), a passive participle from נָתַץ (natats, “tear down”; see HALOT 732 s.v. *נְתִיצָה), because tighter parallelism with the preceding line is achieved. However, none of the textual sources support this emendation. The line may mean that paths must be repaired in order to dwell in the land.
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.