Isa 58 | LSB | STEP | “Call out from your throat, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their transgression And to the house of Jacob their sins.

‏ Isaiah 58

Fasting as Yahweh Chooses

1 “Call out from your throat, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their transgression
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 “Yet they seek Me day by day and find pleasure in knowing My ways,
As a nation that has done righteousness
And has not forsaken the judgment of their God.
They ask Me for righteous judgments;
They find pleasure in the nearness of God.
3 ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?
Why have we afflicted our souls and You do not know?’
Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,
And oppress all your workers.
4 “Behold, you fast for contention and quarreling and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.
5 “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to afflict himself?
Is it for bowing ^{▼▼Lit his}one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Yahweh?
6 “Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To release the bands of ^{▼▼Lit the bar of the yoke}the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every ^{▼▼Lit the bar of the yoke}yoke?
7 “Is it not to divide your bread ^{▼▼Lit for}with the hungry
And bring the afflicted homeless into the house;
When you see the naked, you cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 “Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of Yahweh will be your rear guard.
9 “Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you remove the ^{▼▼Lit bar of the yoke}yoke from your midst,
The ^{▼▼Lit sending out}pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
10 And if you ^{▼▼Lit furnish}offer your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the soul of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your thick darkness will become like midday.
11 “And Yahweh will continually guide you,
And satisfy your soul in scorched places,
And fortify your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not ^{▼▼Or deceive}fail.
12 “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient waste places;
You will raise up the foundations of past generation upon generation;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the paths for one to inhabit.

Keeping the Sabbath

13 “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot
From doing your own desire on My holy day,
And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of Yahweh honorable,
And honor it, by not doing your own ways,
By not finding your own desire
And speaking your own word,
14 Then you will take delight in Yahweh,
And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
And I will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father,
For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”