Old Testament · Prophets
Isaiah chapter 58
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Cry out — full throat, nothing held back!
Lift your voice like a .
Declare to my people their ,
to the house of Jacob their .Day after day they seek me,
eager to know my ways —
as if they were a nation that actually does
and has not abandoned the of their God.
They ask me for just decisions,
they are eager to draw close to God.“Why have we ,” they say,
“and you didn’t see it?
Why have we ,
and you didn’t notice?”
Look — on the day of your fasting you pursue your own interests
and you oppress all your workers.Look — you fast only to quarrel and fight,
to strike with a vicious fist.
You cannot fast the way you do today
and expect your voice to be heard .Is this the kind of fast I choose —
a day for someone to deny themselves?
To
and spread out underneath you?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to Yahweh?Is this not the fast I choose:
to loose the ,
to untie the straps of the ,
to set the free
and to snap every yoke in two?Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the into your house,
to cover the naked when you see them,
and not to hide from ?Then your will break through like the dawn,
and your will spring up quickly.
Your will walk before you,
and the of Yahweh will guard you from behind.Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer.
You will cry out, and he will say, “.”
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the ,
the —if you for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the ,
then your light will rise in the darkness
and your deepest night will become like noon.Yahweh will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in
and make your bones strong.
You will be like a ,
like a .Your people will rebuild the ;
you will raise up foundations laid long ago.
You will be called ,
.If you hold your foot back on the
from chasing your own interests on ,
if you call the Sabbath a
and Yahweh’s own day honorable,
if you honor it by not going your own way,
not chasing your own interests,
not filling it with empty talk,then you will find your in Yahweh,
and I will make you
and feed you with the of Jacob your father —
for .