58 1 The office of God’s ministers. 2 The works of the hypocrites. 6 The fast of the faithful. 13 Of the true Sabbath.

Cry [a]aloud, spare not: lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

Yet they [b]seek me daily, and will know my ways, even as a nation that did righteously, and had not forsaken the statutes of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice: they will draw near unto God, saying,

[c]Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest it not? we have punished ourselves, and thou regardest it not. Behold, in the day of your fast you will seek [d]your will, and require all your debts.

Behold, ye fast to strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do today, to make your voice to be [e]heard above.

Is it such a fast that I have chosen, that a man should afflict his soul for a day, and to bow down his head, as a bull rush, and to lie down in sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fasting, or an acceptable day to the Lord?

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 58:1 The Lord thus speaketh to the Prophet, willing him to use all diligence and severity to rebuke the hypocrites.
  2. Isaiah 58:2 They will seem to worship me and have outward holiness.
  3. Isaiah 58:3 He setteth forth the malice and disdain of the hypocrites, which grudge against God, if their works be not accepted.
  4. Isaiah 58:3 Thus he convinceth the hypocrites by the second table, and by their duty toward their neighbor, that they have neither faith nor religion.
  5. Isaiah 58:4 So long as you use contention and oppression, your fasting and prayers shall not be heard.

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