Isaiah 58
Observances of Fasts
1 “ aCry loudly, do not hold back;Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their bwrongdoing,
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 “Yet they cseek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done drighteousness
And ehas not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight fin the nearness of God.
3 ‘Why have we gfasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not ▼
▼Lit know
notice?’Behold, on the iday of your fast you find your desire,
And oppress all your workers.
4 “Behold, you fast for contention and jstrife, and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you have done today to kmake your voice heard on high!
5 “Is it a fast like this that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it for bowing ▼
▼Lit his
one’s head like a reedAnd for spreading out msackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an nacceptable day to the Lord?
6 “Is this not the fast that I choose:
To orelease the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the ropes of the yoke,
And to plet the oppressed go free,
And qbreak every yoke?
7 “Is it not to rbreak your bread ▼
▼Lit for
with the hungryAnd tbring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the unaked, to cover him;
And not to vhide yourself from your own flesh?
8 “Then your wlight will break out like the dawn,
And your xrecovery will spring up quickly;
And your yrighteousness will go before you;
The glory of the zLord will be your rear guard.
9 “Then you will aacall, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you abremove the yoke from your midst,
The ▼
▼I.e., an abusive gesture
,
adpointing of the finger and aespeaking wickedness,10 And if you afoffer yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the ▼
▼Or soul
need of the afflicted,Then your ahlight will rise in darkness,
And your gloom will become like midday.
11 “And the aiLord will continually guide you,
And ajsatisfy your ▼
▼Or soul
desire in scorched places,And algive strength to your bones;
And you will be like a amwatered garden,
And like a anspring of water whose waters do not ▼
▼Or deceive
fail.12 “Those from among you will aprebuild the ancient ruins;
You will aqraise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the arbreach,
The restorer of the ▼
▼Lit paths
streets in which to dwell.Keeping the Sabbath
13 “If, because of the Sabbath, you atrestrain your foot
From doing as you wish on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a aupleasure, and the holy day of the Lord honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your avown ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And awspeaking your own word,
14 Then you will take axdelight in the Lord,
And I will make you ride ayon the heights of the earth;
And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the azmouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Copyright information for
NASB2020