Isaiah 58

¹“Cry aloud, spare not,

lift up your voice like a trumpet;

declare to my people their transgression,

to the house of Jacob their sins.

²Yet they seek me daily,

and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that did righteousness

and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments,

they delight to draw near to God.

³‘Why have we fasted, and thou seest it not?

Why have we humbled ourselves, and thou takest no knowledge of it?’

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,

and oppress all your workers.

⁴Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to hit with wicked fist.

Fasting like yours this day

will not make your voice to be heard on high.

⁵Is such the fast that I choose,

a day for a man to humble himself?

Is it to bow down his head like a rush,

and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?

Will you call this a fast,

and a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶“Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo the thongs of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?

⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him,

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

⁸Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up speedily;

your righteousness shall go before you,

the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

⁹Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;

you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.

“If you take away from the midst of you the yoke,

the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

¹⁰if you pour yourself out for the hungry

and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,

then shall your light rise in the darkness

and your gloom be as the noonday.

¹¹And the Lord will guide you continually,

and satisfy your desire with good things,

and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water,

whose waters fail not.

¹²And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

the restorer of streets to dwell in.

¹³“If you turn back your foot from the sabbath,

from doing your pleasure on my holy day,

and call the sabbath a delight

and the holy day of the Lord honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;

¹⁴then you shall take delight in the Lord,

and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”