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58 “Cry aloud! Don’t spare!
    Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Declare to my people their disobedience,
    and to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek me daily,
    and delight to know my ways.
As a nation that did righteousness,
    and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God,
they ask of me righteous judgments.
    They delight to draw near to God.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you don’t see?
    Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’

“Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,
    and oppress all your laborers.
Behold, you fast for strife and contention,
    and to strike with the fist of wickedness.
    You don’t fast today so as to make your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the fast that I have chosen?
    A day for a man to humble his soul?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
    and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself?
Will you call this a fast,
    and an acceptable day to Yahweh?

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True Fasts and Sabbaths

58 “Call with the throat; you must not keep back!
    lift up your voice like a trumpet,
and declare[a] to my people their rebellion,
    and to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet[b] they seek me day by day,
    and they desire the knowledge of my ways
like a nation that practiced[c] righteousness,
    and had not forsaken the judgment of its God;
they ask me for righteous judgments,[d]
    they desire the closeness of God.
‘Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
    We humiliate our soul, and you do not notice it?’
Look! You find delight on the day of your fast,
    and you oppress all your workers!
Look! You fast to quarrel and strife,
    and to strike with a wicked fist.[e]
You shall not fast as you do today,[f]
    to make your voice heard[g] on the height.
Is the fast I choose like this,
    a day for humankind to humiliate himself[h]?
To bow his head like a reed,
    and make[i] his bed on sackcloth and ashes;
you call this a fast
    and a day of pleasure to Yahweh?

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 58:1 Or “announce”
  2. Isaiah 58:2 Or “And”
  3. Isaiah 58:2 Literally “did”
  4. Isaiah 58:2 Literally “judgments of righteousness”
  5. Isaiah 58:4 Literally “fist of wickedness”
  6. Isaiah 58:4 Literally “the day”
  7. Isaiah 58:4 Literally “cause to hear your voice”
  8. Isaiah 58:5 Literally “his soul”
  9. Isaiah 58:5 Literally “he makes”