1 "Shout aloud! Don't hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Declare to my people their rebellions, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 They seek me day after day, and are eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practices righteousness and has not forsaken the justice of their God. "They ask me to reveal just decisions; they are eager to draw near to God.
3 "Why have we fasted,' they ask, "but you do not see? "Why have we humbled ourselves,' they ask, "but you take no notice?'" "Look! On your fast day you serve your own interest and oppress all your workers.
4 "Look! You fast only for quarreling, and for fighting, and for hitting with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice heard on high.
5 "Is this the kind of fast that I have chosen, merely a day for a person to humble himself? Is it merely for bowing down one's head like a bulrush, for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, an acceptable day to the LORD?
6 Isn't this the fast that I have been choosing: to loose the bonds of injustice, and to untie the cords of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
7 Isn't it to share your bread with the hungry, and to bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him with clothing, and not to raise yourself up from your own flesh and blood?"
8 "Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will spring up quickly; and your vindication will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will guard your back.
9 Then you'll call, and the LORD will answer; you'll cry for help, and he'll respond, "Here I am.' "If you do away with the yoke among you, and pointing fingers and malicious talk;
10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the needs of afflicted souls, then your light will rise in darkness, and your night will be like noonday.
11 And the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in parched places, and they will strengthen your bones; and you'll be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.
12 And your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; You'll raise up the age-old foundations, and people will call you "Repairer of Broken Walls,' "Restorer of Streets to Live In.'
13 "If you keep your feet from trampling 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; and if you honor it by not going your own ways and seeking your own pleasure or speaking merely idle words,
14 then you will take delight in the LORD, and he will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; and he will make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob, your father. "Yes! The mouth of the LORD has spoken."