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Fasting as Yahweh Chooses

58 (A)Call out from your throat, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their (B)transgression
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they (C)seek Me day by day and find pleasure in knowing My ways,
As a nation that has done (D)righteousness
And (E)has not forsaken the judgment of their God.
They ask Me for righteous judgments;
They find pleasure in (F)the nearness of God.
‘Why have we (G)fasted and You do not see?
Why have we afflicted our souls and You do not know?’
Behold, on the (H)day of your fast you find your desire,
And oppress all your workers.
Behold, you fast for contention and (I)quarreling and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you do today to (J)make your voice heard on high.
Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to afflict himself?
Is it for bowing [a]one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out (K)sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an (L)acceptable day to Yahweh?

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 58:5 Lit his

True Fasting

58 “Cry out loudly, don’t hold back!
Raise your voice like a ram’s horn.
Tell my people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins.
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)

“Why have we fasted, but you have not seen?(B)
We have denied ourselves, but you haven’t noticed!” [a]

“Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast,
and oppress all your workers.(C)
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.
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?

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Footnotes

  1. 58:3 These are Israel’s words to God.