Isaiah 58

HCSB

Isaiah 58

True Fasting

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“Cry out loudly,^(a) don’t hold back!
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Tell My people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins.

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They seek Me day after day
and delight to know My ways,
like a nation that does what is right
and does not abandon the justice of their God.
They ask Me for righteous judgments;
they delight in the nearness of God.”^(A)

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“Why have we fasted, but You have not seen?^(B)
We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed!”^(b)
“Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast,
and oppress all your workers.^(C)

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You fast with contention and strife
to strike viciously with your fist.
You cannot fast as you do today,
hoping to make your voice heard on high.

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Will the fast I choose be like this:
A day for a person to deny himself,
to bow his head like a reed,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes?^(D)
Will you call this a fast
and a day acceptable to the Lord?

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Isn’t the fast I choose:
To break the chains of wickedness,^(E)
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
and to tear off every yoke?^(F)

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Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,^(G)
to bring the poor and homeless into your house,
to clothe the naked when you see him,^(H)
and not to ignore^(c) your own flesh and blood?^(I)

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Then your light will appear like the dawn,
and your recovery will come quickly.^(J)
Your righteousness will go before you,^(K)
and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.^(L)

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At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer;^(M)
when you cry out, He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you get rid of the yoke among you,^(d)
the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,^(N)

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and if you offer yourself^(e) to the hungry,
and satisfy the afflicted one,
then your light will shine in the darkness,^(O)
and your night will be like noonday.

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The Lord will always lead you,
satisfy you in a parched land,
and strengthen your bones.
You will be like a watered garden^(P)
and like a spring whose waters never run dry.^(Q)

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Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins;^(R)
you will restore the foundations laid long ago;^(f)^(S)
you will be called the repairer of broken walls,
the restorer of streets where people live.

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“If you keep from desecrating^(g) the Sabbath,^(T)
from doing whatever you want on My holy day;
if you call the Sabbath a delight,
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,^(U)
seeking your own pleasure, or talking too much;^(h)

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then you will delight yourself in the Lord,^(V)
and I will make you ride over the heights of the land,^(W)
and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.^(X)

Footnotes:

a. Isaiah 58:1: Lit with throat

b. Isaiah 58:3: These are Israel’s words to God.

c. Isaiah 58:7: Lit not hide yourself from

d. Isaiah 58:9: Lit yoke from your midst

e. Isaiah 58:10: Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr read offer your bread

f. Isaiah 58:12: Lit foundations generation and generation

g. Isaiah 58:13: Lit keep your foot from

h. Isaiah 58:13: Lit or speak a word

Cross references:

A. Isaiah 58:2: Psalm 119:151; Isaiah 29:13; Isaiah 57:3

B. Isaiah 58:3: Malachi 3:14; Luke 18:12

C. Isaiah 58:3: Isaiah 22:12-13

D. Isaiah 58:5: Daniel 9:3

E. Isaiah 58:6: Job 36:8; Psalm 107:10; Ecclesiastes 7:26

F. Isaiah 58:6: Nehemiah 5:10-12; Isaiah 58:9; Jeremiah 34:8

G. Isaiah 58:7: Job 31:19-20; Isaiah 58:10; Ezekiel 18:7; Ezekiel 18:16

H. Isaiah 58:7: Matthew 25:35-36; Luke 3:11

I. Isaiah 58:7: Deuteronomy 22:1-4; Luke 10:31-32

J. Isaiah 58:8: Isaiah 30:26; Isaiah 33:24; Jeremiah 30:17; Jeremiah 33:6

K. Isaiah 58:8: Psalm 85:13; Isaiah 62:1

L. Isaiah 58:8: Exodus 14:19; Isaiah 52:12

M. Isaiah 58:9: Psalm 50:15; Isaiah 55:6; Isaiah 65:24

N. Isaiah 58:9: Proverbs 6:13

O. Isaiah 58:10: Job 11:17; Psalm 37:6; Isaiah 42:16; Isaiah 58:8

P. Isaiah 58:11: Isaiah 27:3; Jeremiah 31:12

Q. Isaiah 58:11: John 4:14; John 7:38

R. Isaiah 58:12: Ezra 6:14; Nehemiah 4:6; Isaiah 49:8; Isaiah 61:4; Ezekiel 36:10

S. Isaiah 58:12: Ezra 3:10-12

T. Isaiah 58:13: Exodus 31:16-17; Exodus 35:2-3; Isaiah 56:2-6; Jeremiah 17:21-27

U. Isaiah 58:13: Isaiah 55:8

V. Isaiah 58:14: Job 22:26; Psalm 37:4

W. Isaiah 58:14: Deuteronomy 32:13; Deuteronomy 33:29; Isaiah 33:16; Habakkuk 3:19

X. Isaiah 58:14: Isaiah 1:20; Isaiah 40:5