Isa 58:2-3, Zec 7:3-5, Mal 1:13, 3:14, Luk 15:29-30, 18:11-12 | ESV | STEP | Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways , as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God ; they ask of me righteous judgments ; they delight to draw near to God .

i[See ver. 3 above]

j[2 Kgs. 25:25]

kSee ch. 1:12

l[Isa. 58:4, 5]

m[Isa. 58:4, 5]

n Isa. 43:23; [ch. 3:14; Mic. 6:3]

o[ver. 8; Lev. 22:20]

u Matt. 6:5; Mark 11:25

w[Rev. 3:17]

x Matt. 9:14

y ch. 11:42

Isaiah 58:2-3

2 ^aYet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
3 ^b‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, ^{▼▼Or pursue your own business}
^dand oppress all your workers.

Zechariah 7:3-5

3 ^esaying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and ^fthe prophets, “Should I weep and ^gabstain in ^hthe fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: 5 “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in ⁱthe fifth month and in ^jthe seventh, for these ^kseventy years, ^lwas it ^mfor me that you fasted?

Malachi 1:13

13 But you say, ⁿ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. ^oYou bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord.

Malachi 3:14

14 You have said, ^p‘It is vain to serve God. ^qWhat is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?

Luke 15:29-30

29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might ^rcelebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, ^swho has devoured ^tyour property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

Luke 18:11-12

11 The Pharisee, ^ustanding by himself, prayed ^{▼▼Or standing, prayed to himself} ^wthus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 ^xI fast twice a week; ^yI give tithes of all that I get.’