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True Fasts and Sabbaths

58 “Call with the throat; you must not keep back!
    lift up your voice like a trumpet,
and declare[a] to my people their rebellion,
    and to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet[b] they seek me day by day,
    and they desire the knowledge of my ways
like a nation that practiced[c] righteousness,
    and had not forsaken the judgment of its God;
they ask me for righteous judgments,[d]
    they desire the closeness of God.
‘Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
    We humiliate our soul, and you do not notice it?’
Look! You find delight on the day of your fast,
    and you oppress all your workers!
Look! You fast to quarrel and strife,
    and to strike with a wicked fist.[e]
You shall not fast as you do today,[f]
    to make your voice heard[g] on the height.
Is the fast I choose like this,
    a day for humankind to humiliate himself[h]?
To bow his head like a reed,
    and make[i] his bed on sackcloth and ashes;
you call this a fast
    and a day of pleasure to Yahweh?
Is this not the fast I choose: to release the bonds of injustice,
    to untie the ropes of the yoke,
and to let the oppressed go free,
    and tear[j] every yoke to pieces?
Is it not to break your bread for the hungry?
    You must bring home[k] the poor, the homeless.
When you see the naked, you must cover him,
    and you must not hide yourself from your relatives.[l]
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall grow quickly.
And your salvation shall go before you;
    the glory of Yahweh will be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and Yahweh himself will answer.
    You shall cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am!’
If you remove from among you the yoke,
    the finger-pointing[m] and evil speech,[n]
10 if[o] you offer your soul to the hungry,
    and you satisfy the appetite of the afflicted,
then[p] your light shall rise in the darkness,
    and your darkness will be like noon.
11 And Yahweh will lead you continually, and satisfy your soul in a barren land,
    and he will strengthen your bones,
and you shall be like a well-watered garden,
    and like a spring of water whose water does not fail.
12 And they shall rebuild ancient ruins from you;
    you shall erect the foundations of many generations,[q]
and you shall be called[r] the bricklayer of the breach,
    the restorer of paths to live in.
13 If you hold your foot back from the Sabbath,
    from doing your affairs on my holy day,[s]
if[t] you call the Sabbath a pleasure,
    the holy day of Yahweh honorable,
if[u] you honor him more than[v] doing your ways,
    than finding your affairs[w] and speaking a word,
14 then you shall take your pleasure in[x] Yahweh,
    and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth,
    and I will feed you the heritage of Jacob your ancestor,[y]

for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 58:1 Or “announce”
  2. Isaiah 58:2 Or “And”
  3. Isaiah 58:2 Literally “did”
  4. Isaiah 58:2 Literally “judgments of righteousness”
  5. Isaiah 58:4 Literally “fist of wickedness”
  6. Isaiah 58:4 Literally “the day”
  7. Isaiah 58:4 Literally “cause to hear your voice”
  8. Isaiah 58:5 Literally “his soul”
  9. Isaiah 58:5 Literally “he makes”
  10. Isaiah 58:6 Literally “you must tear”
  11. Isaiah 58:7 Literally “a house”
  12. Isaiah 58:7 Literally “flesh”
  13. Isaiah 58:9 Literally “stretching out of the finger”
  14. Isaiah 58:9 Literally “the speaking of evil”
  15. Isaiah 58:10 Or “and”
  16. Isaiah 58:10 Or “and”
  17. Isaiah 58:12 Literally “generation and generation”
  18. Isaiah 58:12 Literally “shall be called to you”
  19. Isaiah 58:13 Literally “the day of my holiness”
  20. Isaiah 58:13 Or “and”
  21. Isaiah 58:13 Literally “and”
  22. Isaiah 58:13 Literally “from”
  23. Isaiah 58:13 Hebrew “affair”
  24. Isaiah 58:14 Or “on”
  25. Isaiah 58:14 Or “father”

58 Cry [a]aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways: as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near unto God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure, and [b]exact all your labors. Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: [c]ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Jehovah? Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of Jehovah shall be thy rearward. Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am.

If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly; 10 and if thou [d]draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noonday; 11 and Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in [e]dry places, and make strong thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of Jehovah honorable; and shalt honor [f]it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah; and I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth; and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 58:1 Hebrew with the throat.
  2. Isaiah 58:3 Or, oppress all your laborers
  3. Isaiah 58:4 Or, ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make etc.
  4. Isaiah 58:10 Or, bestow on the hungry that which thy soul desireth
  5. Isaiah 58:11 Or, drought
  6. Isaiah 58:13 Or, him