Isaiah 58
58
LVIII
1Cry aloud, spare not;
Lift up thy voice like a trumpet;
And declare unto my people their transgression,
And to the house of Jacob their sin.
2Yet they seek me daily,
And delight to know my ways;
As a nation that did righteousness,
And had not forsaken the ordinance of their God:
They ask of me righteous ordinances,
They take delight in approaching to God.
3Wherefore we have fasted, say they, and thou seest not?
Have afflicted our souls, and thou dost not regard?
Behold I in the day of your fasting ye find pleasure,
And exact all your tasks of labour.
4Behold! ye fast for strife and contention,
And to smite with the fist of wickedness;
Ye fast not as this day,
So as to cause your voice to be heard on high.
5Is it such a fast that I have chosen?
A day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it that he should bow down his head like a bulrush,
And spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Wilt thou call this a fast,
And a day acceptable to Jehovah?
6Is not this the fast that I have chosen?
To loose the fetters of wickedness,
To untie the bands of the yoke;
And to let the oppressed go free,
And that ye should break asunder every yoke?
7Is it not to distribute thy bread to the hungry,
And to bring the poor that are persecuted into thy house?
When thou seest the naked, that thou clothe him,
And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
8Then shall thy light break forth as the dawn,
And thine health shall spring forth speedily;
And thy righteousness shall go before thee,
And the glory of Jehovah shall bring up thy rear.
9Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah shall answer;
Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Behold me!
If thou remove from the midst of thee the yoke,
The pointing of the finger, and speaking vanity;
10And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry,
And satisfy the afflicted soul;
Then shall thy light rise in obscurity,
And thy darkness be as the noon-day.
11And Jehovah shall guide thee continually,
And satisfy thy soul in drought;
And strengthen thy bones:
And thou shalt be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
12And they that spring from thee shall build the old waste places,
The foundations of many generations shalt thou raise up;
And thou shalt be called, The Repairer of the breach;
The Restorer of paths to dwell in.
13If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath,
From doing thy pleasure on my holy day;
And call the sabbath a delight,
The holy of Jehovah, honourable;
And shalt honour it, not doing thine own ways,
Nor seeking thine own pleasure, nor using idle talk;
14Then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah;
And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,
And feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father:
For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.
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Isaiah 58: TEG
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.
Isaiah 58
58
True fasting
1‘Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3“Why have we fasted,” they say,
“and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?”
‘Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
6‘Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter –
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness#58:8 Or your righteous One will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: here am I.
‘If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13‘If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honourable,
and if you honour it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.’
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
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The Holy Bible, New International Version® (Anglicised), NIV®
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