Isaiah 58:1-7 ▼

1 “Call with the throat, do not restrain, lift up your voice as a horn, || And declare to My people their transgression, || And to the house of Jacob their sins;

2 They seek Me day by day, || And they desire the knowledge of My ways, || As a nation that has done righteousness, || And has not forsaken the judgment of its God, || They ask of Me judgments of righteousness, || They desire the drawing near of God:

3 Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? We have afflicted our soul, and You do not know. Behold, you find pleasure in the day of your fast, || And exact all your laborers.

4 Behold, you fast for strife and debate, || And to strike with the fist of wickedness, || You do not fast as [this] day, || To sound your voice in the high place.

5 Is this like the fast that I choose? The day of a man’s afflicting his soul? To bow his head as a reed, || And spread out sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, || And a desirable day—to YHWH?

6 Is this not the fast that I chose—To loose the bands of wickedness, || To shake off the burdens of the yoke, || And to send out the oppressed free, || And draw off every yoke?

7 Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, || And bring home the wandering poor, || That you see the naked and cover him, || And do not hide yourself from your own flesh?