Isaiah 58

The Fast the LORD Chooses

1“Cry out with a full throat; do not hold back!
Raise your voice like a ram’s horn.
Tell my people their rebellion,
the house of Jacob their sins. 2Day after day they seek me
and delight in knowing my ways,
as though they were a nation that did righteousness
and had not abandoned its God’s justice.
They ask me for righteous judgments
and delight in drawing near to God. 3‘Why have we fasted, and you have not seen?
Why humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
Look, on your fast day you pursue your own interests
and drive all your workers hard. 4Look, you fast only to quarrel and fight
and strike with a wicked fist.
Fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.

5Is this the fast I choose,
a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it bowing the head like a reed
and spreading sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD? 6Is not this the fast I choose:
to loosen the bonds of wickedness,
undo the straps of the yoke,
release the oppressed,
and break every yoke? 7Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry,
bringing the homeless poor into your house,
clothing the naked when you see them,
and not hiding from your own flesh and blood? 8Then your light will break out like dawn,
and your healing will spring up quickly.
Your righteousness will go before you;
the LORD’s glory will guard your rear.

9Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing finger and harmful speech, 10if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted,
your light will rise in darkness,
and your gloom will be like noon. 11The LORD will guide you continually,
satisfy you in parched places and strengthen your bones.
You will be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail. 12Your people will rebuild ancient ruins;
you will raise foundations laid generations ago.
You will be called Repairer of the Breach,
Restorer of Streets to Live In.

13If you restrain your foot on the Sabbath
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
if you honor it by not following your own ways,
pursuing your own interests or talking business, 14then you will delight in the LORD.
I will make you ride on the heights of the land
and feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father.”
For the LORD’s mouth has spoken.