Isaiah 58
58
True Fasting
1“Cry out loudly, # Lit with throat don’t hold back!
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Tell My people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins.
2They seek Me day after day
and delight to know My ways,
like a nation that does what is right
and does not abandon the justice of their God.
They ask Me for righteous judgments;
they delight in the nearness of God.” # Ps 119:151; Is 29:13; 57:3; Jms 4:8
3“Why have we fasted, but You have not seen? # Mal 3:14; Lk 18:12
We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed! ” # These are Israel’s words to God.
“Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast,
and oppress all your workers. # Is 22:12-13; Zch 7:5-6
4You fast with contention and strife
to strike viciously with your fist.
You cannot fast as you do today,
hoping to make your voice heard on high.
5Will the fast I choose be like this:
A day for a person to deny himself,
to bow his head like a reed,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? # Est 4:3; Dn 9:3
Will you call this a fast
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
6Isn’t the fast I choose:
To break the chains of wickedness, # Jb 36:8; Ps 107:10; Ec 7:26
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
and to tear off every yoke? # Neh 5:10-12; Is 58:9; Jr 34:8
7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, # Jb 31:19-20; Is 58:10; Ezk 18:7,16
to bring the poor and homeless into your house,
to clothe the naked when you see him, # Mt 25:35-36; Lk 3:11
and not to ignore # Lit not hide yourself from your own flesh and blood? # Dt 22:1-4; Lk 10:31-32
8Then your light will appear like the dawn,
and your recovery will come quickly. # Is 30:26; 33:24; Jr 30:17; 33:6
Your righteousness will go before you, # Ps 85:13; Is 62:1
and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard. # Ex 14:19; Is 52:12
9At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer; # Ps 50:15; Is 55:6; 65:24
when you cry out, He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you get rid of the yoke among you, # Lit yoke from your midst
the finger-pointing and malicious speaking, # Pr 6:13
10and if you offer yourself # Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr read offer your bread to the hungry,
and satisfy the afflicted one,
then your light will shine in the darkness, # Jb 11:17; Ps 37:6; Is 42:16; 58:8
and your night will be like noonday.
11The Lord will always lead you,
satisfy you in a parched land,
and strengthen your bones.
You will be like a watered garden # Sg 4:15; Is 27:3; Jr 31:12
and like a spring whose waters never run dry. # Jn 4:14; 7:38
12Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; # Ezr 6:14; Neh 4:6; Is 49:8; 61:4; Ezk 36:10
you will restore the foundations laid long ago; # Lit foundations generation and generation # 1Kg 6:37; Ezr 3:10-12
you will be called the repairer of broken walls,
the restorer of streets where people live.
13“If you keep from desecrating # Lit keep your foot from the Sabbath, # Ex 31:16-17; 35:2-3; Is 56:2-6; Jr 17:21-27
from doing whatever you want on My holy day;
if you call the Sabbath a delight,
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways, # Is 55:8
seeking your own pleasure, or talking too much; # Lit or speak a word
14then you will delight yourself in the Lord, # Jb 22:26; Ps 37:4
and I will make you ride over the heights of the land, # Dt 32:13; 33:29; Is 33:16; Hab 3:19
and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. # Is 1:20; 40:5
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Isaiah 58: HCSB
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© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
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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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.