Isaiah 58:1-5

The Voice

58 Eternal One: Tell My people about their wrongdoing;
        shout with a voice like a trumpet;
    Hold nothing back: say this people of Jacob’s line and heritage
        have failed to do what is right.

²     And yet they look for Me every day.
        They pretend to want to learn what I teach,
    As if they are indeed a nation good and true,
        as if they hadn’t really turned their backs on My directives.
    They even ask Me, as though they care,
        about what I want them to be and do, as if they really want Me in their lives.

³ People: Why didn’t You notice how diligently we fasted before You?
        We humbled ourselves with pious practices and You paid no attention.

Eternal One: I have to tell you, on those fasting days,
        all you were really seeking was your own pleasure;
    Besides you were busy defrauding people and abusing your workers.
⁴     Your kind of fasting is pointless, for it only leads to bitter quarrels,
        contentious backbiting, and vicious fighting.
    You are not fasting today because you want Me to hear your voice.
⁵     What kind of a fast do I choose? Is a true fast simply
        some religious exercise for making a person feel miserable and woeful?
    Is it about how you bow your head (like a bent reed), how you dress (in sackcloth), and where you sit (in a bed of ashes)?
        Is this what you call a fast, a day the Eternal One finds good and proper?