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Isn’t this the fast I choose:
    releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke,
    setting free the mistreated,
    and breaking every yoke?
Isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry
    and bringing the homeless poor into your house,
    covering the naked when you see them,
    and not hiding from your own family?
Then your light will break out like the dawn,
    and you will be healed quickly.
Your own righteousness will walk before you,
    and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and God will say, “I’m here.”
If you remove the yoke from among you,
    the finger-pointing, the wicked speech;
10     if you open your heart to the hungry,
    and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted,
    your light will shine in the darkness,
    and your gloom will be like the noon.
11 The Lord will guide you continually
    and provide for you, even in parched places.
    He will rescue your bones.
You will be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water that won’t run dry.
12 They will rebuild ancient ruins on your account;
    the foundations of generations past you will restore.
You will be called Mender of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Livable Streets.

13 If you stop trampling the Sabbath,
    stop doing whatever you want on my holy day,
    and consider the Sabbath a delight,
    sacred to the Lord, honored,
    and honor it instead of doing things your way,
    seeking what you want and doing business as usual,
14     then you will take delight in the Lord.
    I will let you ride on the heights of the earth;
    I will sustain you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob.
    The mouth of the Lord has spoken.

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“Is not this the kind of fasting(A) I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice(B)
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed(C) free
    and break every yoke?(D)
Is it not to share your food with the hungry(E)
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter(F)
when you see the naked, to clothe(G) them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?(H)
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,(I)
    and your healing(J) will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a](K) will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.(L)
Then you will call,(M) and the Lord will answer;(N)
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger(O) and malicious talk,(P)
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,(Q)
then your light(R) will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.(S)
11 The Lord will guide(T) you always;
    he will satisfy your needs(U) in a sun-scorched land(V)
    and will strengthen(W) your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,(X)
    like a spring(Y) whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins(Z)
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;(AA)
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,(AB)
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath(AC)
    and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight(AD)
    and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
    and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,(AE)
14 then you will find your joy(AF) in the Lord,
    and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights(AG) of the land
    and to feast on the inheritance(AH) of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.(AI)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 58:8 Or your righteous One