Isaiah 58:5-14 ▼

5 Is it like this, the fast I choose? A day for a man to afflict his soul, for bowing down his head like a reed, and spreading out sackcloth and ashes—do you call this a fast, and a day of pleasure for YHWH?

6 Is not this the fast I choose: To open the bonds of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, and to send forth the crushed ones free, and tear off every yoke?

7 Is it not to distribute your bread to the hungry, and the wandering the poor you should bring into the house; when you see one naked then clothe him, and do not hide yourself from your own flesh?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will sprout quickly, and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of YHWH will gather behind you.

9 Then you will call, and YHWH will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am! If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and the speaking of wickedness,

10 and if you extend to the hungry your soul, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be like the noonday.

11 And YHWH will guide you continually, and will satisfy your soul in scorched lands, and He will strengthen your bones; and you will be watered like a garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.

12 And some of you will rebuild the ruins of old; you will raise up the foundations of generation and generation, and you will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.

13 If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, doing your pleasure on My holy day, and if you call the Sabbath a delight, holy of YHWH, honored, and if you honor it above doing your own ways above finding your own delight and speaking a word,

14 then you will delight yourself in YHWH; and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the earth, and I will feed you the inheritance of Jacob your father.” For the mouth of YHWH has spoken.