Isaiah 58
58
What True Worship Is All About
1The Lord told me,
“Shout out loud. Do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Tell my people that they have refused to obey me.
Tell the family of Jacob how much they have sinned.
2Day after day they worship me.
They seem ready and willing to know how I want them to live.
They act as if they were a nation that does what is right.
They act as if they have not turned away from my commands.
They claim to want me to give them fair decisions.
They seem ready and willing to come near and worship me.
3‘We have gone without food,’ they say.
‘Why haven’t you noticed it?
We have made ourselves suffer.
Why haven’t you paid any attention to us?’
“On the day when you fast, you do as you please.
You take advantage of all your workers.
4When you fast, it ends in arguing and fighting.
You hit one another with your fists.
That is an evil thing to do.
The way you are now fasting
keeps your prayers from being heard in heaven.
5Do you think that is the way I want you to fast?
Is it only a time for people to make themselves suffer?
Is it only for people to bow their heads like tall grass bent by the wind?
Is it only for people to lie down in ashes and clothes of mourning?
Is that what you call a fast?
Do you think I can accept that?
6“Here is the way I want you to fast.
“Set free those who are held by chains without any reason.
Untie the ropes that hold people as slaves.
Set free those who are crushed.
Break every evil chain.
7Share your food with hungry people.
Provide homeless people with a place to stay.
Give naked people clothes to wear.
Provide for the needs of your own family.
8Then the light of my blessing will shine on you like the rising sun.
I will heal you quickly.
I will march out ahead of you.
And my glory will follow behind you and guard you.
That’s because I always do what is right.
9You will call out to me for help.
And I will answer you.
You will cry out.
And I will say, ‘Here I am.’
“Get rid of the chains you use to hold others down.
Stop pointing your finger at others as if they had done something wrong.
Stop saying harmful things about them.
10Work hard to feed hungry people.
Satisfy the needs of those who are crushed.
Then my blessing will light up your darkness.
And the night of your suffering will become as bright as the noonday sun.
11I will always guide you.
I will satisfy your needs in a land baked by the sun.
I will make you stronger.
You will be like a garden that has plenty of water.
You will be like a spring whose water never runs dry.
12Your people will rebuild the cities that were destroyed long ago.
And you will build again on the old foundations.
You will be called One Who Repairs Broken Walls.
You will be called One Who Makes City Streets Like New Again.
13“Do not work on the Sabbath day.
Do not do just anything you want to on my holy day.
Make the Sabbath a day you can enjoy.
Honor the Lord’s holy day.
Do not work on it.
Do not do just anything you want to.
Do not talk about things that are worthless.
14Then you will find your joy in me.
I will give you control over the most important places in the land.
And you will enjoy all the good things
in the land I gave your father Jacob.”
The Lord has spoken.
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Isaiah 58: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
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Isaiah 58
58
True Fasts and Sabbaths
1“Call with the throat; you must not keep back!
lift up your voice like a trumpet,
and declare#Or “announce” to my people their rebellion,
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2Yet#Or “And” they seek me day by day,
and they desire the knowledge of my ways
like a nation that practiced#Literally “did” righteousness,
and had not forsaken the judgment of its God;
they ask me for righteous judgments,#Literally “judgments of righteousness”
they desire the closeness of God.
3‘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!
4Look! You fast to quarrel and strife,
and to strike with a wicked fist.#Literally “fist of wickedness”
You shall not fast as you do today,#Literally “the day”
to make your voice heard#Literally “cause to hear your voice” on the height.
5Is the fast I choose like this,
a day for humankind to humiliate himself#Literally “his soul”?
To bow his head like a reed,
and make#Literally “he makes” his bed on sackcloth and ashes;
you call this a fast
and a day of pleasure to Yahweh?
6Is this not the fast I choose: to release the bonds of injustice,
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
and to let the oppressed go free,
and tear#Literally “you must tear” every yoke to pieces?
7Is it not to break your bread for the hungry?
You must bring home#Literally “a house” the poor, the homeless.
When you see the naked, you must cover him,
and you must not hide yourself from your relatives.#Literally “flesh”
8Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall grow quickly.
And your salvation shall go before you;
the glory of Yahweh will be your rear guard.
9Then you shall call, and Yahweh himself will answer.
You shall cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am!’
If you remove from among you the yoke,
the finger-pointing#Literally “stretching out of the finger” and evil speech,#Literally “the speaking of evil”
10if#Or “and” you offer your soul to the hungry,
and you satisfy the appetite of the afflicted,
then#Or “and” your light shall rise in the darkness,
and your darkness will be like noon.
11And Yahweh will lead you continually, and satisfy your soul in a barren land,
and he will strengthen your bones,
and you shall be like a well-watered garden,
and like a spring of water whose water does not fail.
12And they shall rebuild ancient ruins from you;
you shall erect the foundations of many generations,#Literally “generation and generation”
and you shall be called#Literally “shall be called to you” the bricklayer of the breach,
the restorer of paths to live in.
13If you hold your foot back from the Sabbath,
from doing your affairs on my holy day,#Literally “the day of my holiness”
if#Or “and” you call the Sabbath a pleasure,
the holy day of Yahweh honorable,
if#Literally “and” you honor him more than#Literally “from” doing your ways,
than finding your affairs#Hebrew “affair” and speaking a word,
14then you shall take your pleasure in#Or “on” Yahweh,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth,
and I will feed you the heritage of Jacob your ancestor,#Or “father”
for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”
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