Isaiah 58:4-8

English Standard Version

⁴Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
    and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
    will not make your voice to be heard on high.
⁵^(A)Is such the fast that I choose,
    ^(B)a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
    and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
    and a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶“Is not this the fast that I choose:
    ^(C)to loose the bonds of wickedness,
    to undo the straps ^(D)of the yoke,
to let the oppressed^[a] go free,
    and to break every yoke?
⁷Is it not ^(E)to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
    ^(F)and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸^(G)Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
    ^(H)and your healing shall spring up speedily;
^(I)your righteousness shall go before you;
    ^(J)the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.