Isaiah 58:1-10

Holman Christian Standard Bible

58 “Cry out loudly,^[a] don’t hold back!
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Tell My people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins.
² They seek Me day after day
and delight to know My ways,
like a nation that does what is right
and does not abandon the justice of their God.
They ask Me for righteous judgments;
they delight in the nearness of God.”^(A)
3 “Why have we fasted, but You have not seen?^(B)
We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed!”^[b]
“Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast,
and oppress all your workers.^(C)
4 You fast with contention and strife
to strike viciously with your fist.
You cannot fast as you do today,
hoping to make your voice heard on high.
⁵ Will the fast I choose be like this:
A day for a person to deny himself,
to bow his head like a reed,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes?^(D)
Will you call this a fast
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
⁶ Isn’t the fast I choose:
To break the chains of wickedness,^(E)
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
and to tear off every yoke?^(F)
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,^(G)
to bring the poor and homeless into your house,
to clothe the naked when you see him,^(H)
and not to ignore^[c] your own flesh and blood?^(I)
8 Then your light will appear like the dawn,
and your recovery will come quickly.^(J)
Your righteousness will go before you,^(K)
and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.^(L)
9 At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer;^(M)
when you cry out, He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you get rid of the yoke among you,^[d]
the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,^(N)
10 and if you offer yourself^[e] to the hungry,
and satisfy the afflicted one,
then your light will shine in the darkness,^(O)
and your night will be like noonday.