Isaiah 58

1 “Cry loudly; do not hold back. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Confront my people with their rebellion, and the house of Jacob with their sins.

Call with the throat, restrain not, As a trumpet lift up thy voice, And declare to My people their transgression, And to the house of Jacob their sins;

2 Yet they seek me daily and delight in the knowledge of my ways, like a nation that practiced righteousness and did not abandon the law of their God. They ask me for righteous judgments; they take pleasure in the thought of God coming near.

Seeing — Me day by day they seek, And the knowledge of My ways they desire, As a nation that righteousness hath done, And the judgment of its God hath not forsaken, They ask of me judgments of righteousness, The drawing near of God they desire:

3 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'but you do not see it? Why have we humbled ourselves, but you do not notice?' Look, on the day of your fast you find your own pleasure and oppress all your laborers.

'Why have we fasted, and Thou hast not seen? We have afflicted our soul, and Thou knowest not.' Lo, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, And all your labours ye exact.

4 Look, you fast to quarrel and fight, and to hit with your fist of wickedness; you do not fast today to make your voice heard above.

Lo, for strife and debate ye fast, And to smite with the fist of wickedness, Ye fast not as [to] -day, To sound in the high place your voice.

5 Is this really the kind of fast that I would want: A day for anybody to humble himself, for him to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself? Do you really call this a fast, a day that pleases Yahweh?

Like this is the fast that I choose? The day of a man's afflicting his soul? To bow as a reed his head, And sackcloth and ashes spread out? This dost thou call a fast, And a desirable day — to Jehovah?

6 Is not this the fast that I choose: To release wicked bonds, to undo the ropes of the yoke, to set the crushed ones free, and to break every yoke?

Is not this 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 every yoke ye draw off?

7 Is it not to break your bread with the hungry and to bring the poor and homeless into your house?” When you see someone naked, you should clothe him; and you should not hide yourself from your own relatives.

Is it not to deal to the hungry thy bread, And the mourning poor bring home, That thou seest the naked and cover him, And from thine own flesh hide not thyself?

8 Then your light would be broken open like the sunrise, and your healing would quickly sprout up; your righteousness would go before you, and the glory of Yahweh would be your rearguard.

Then broken up as the dawn is thy light, And thy health in haste springeth up, Gone before thee hath thy righteousness, The honour of Jehovah doth gather thee.

9 Then you would call, and Yahweh would answer; you would cry out for help, and he would say, “Here I am.” If you take away from among yourselves the yoke, the accusing finger, and the speech of wickedness,

Then thou callest, and Jehovah answereth, Thou criest, and He saith, 'Behold Me.' If thou turn aside from thy midst the yoke, The sending forth of the finger, And the speaking of vanity,

10 if you yourselves provide for the hungry and satisfy the need of the distressed; then your light will rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be like the noonday.

And dost bring out to the hungry thy soul, And the afflicted soul dost satisfy, Then risen in the darkness hath thy light, And thy thick darkness [is] as noon.

11 Then Yahweh will lead you continually and satisfy you in regions where there is no water, and he will strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.

And Jehovah doth lead thee continually, And hath satisfied in drought thy soul, And thy bones He armeth, And thou hast been as a watered garden, And as an outlet of waters, whose waters lie not.

12 Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will raise up the ruins of many generations; you will be called “The repairer of the wall,” “The restorer of streets to live on.”

And they have built out of thee the wastes of old, The foundations of many generations thou raisest up, And one calleth thee, 'Repairer of the breach, Restorer of paths to rest in.'

13 Suppose that you turn back your feet from traveling on the Sabbath day, and from doing your own pleasure on my holy day. Suppose that you call the Sabbath a delight, and that you call the matters of Yahweh holy and honored. Suppose that you honor the Sabbath by leaving your own business, and by not finding your own pleasure and by not speaking your own words.

If thou dost turn from the sabbath thy foot, Doing thine own pleasure on My holy day, And hast cried to the sabbath, 'A delight,' To the holy of Jehovah, 'Honoured,' And hast honoured it, without doing thine own ways, Without finding thine own pleasure, And speaking a word.

14 “Then you will find delight in Yahweh; and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you from the inheritance of Jacob your father—for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

Then dost thou delight thyself on Jehovah, And I have caused thee to ride on high places of earth, And have caused thee to eat the inheritance of Jacob thy father, For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken!