58 1 The office of God’s ministers. 2 The works of the hypocrites. 6 The fast of the faithful. 13 Of the true Sabbath.
1 Cry [a]aloud, spare not: lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they [b]seek me daily, and will know my ways, even as a nation that did righteously, and had not forsaken the statutes of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice: they will draw near unto God, saying,
3 [c]Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest it not? we have punished ourselves, and thou regardest it not. Behold, in the day of your fast you will seek [d]your will, and require all your debts.
4 Behold, ye fast to strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do today, to make your voice to be [e]heard above.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen, that a man should afflict his soul for a day, and to bow down his head, as a bull rush, and to lie down in sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fasting, or an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 Is not this the fasting that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to take off the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every [f]yoke?
7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that wander, unto thine house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and hide not thyself from [g]thine own flesh?
8 Then shall thy [h]light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall grow speedily: thy [i]righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall embrace thee.
9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer: thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am: if thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the [j]finger, and wicked speaking:
10 If thou [k]pour out thy soul to the hungry, and refresh the troubled soul: then shall thy light spring out in the [l]darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noon day.
11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
12 And they shall be of thee, that shall build the old [m]waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations for many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, and the restorer of the paths to dwell in.
13 If thou [n]turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy will on mine Holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight to consecrate it, as glorious to the Lord, and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor seeking thine own will, nor speaking a vain word,
14 Then shalt thou delight in the Lord, and I will cause thee to mount upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 58:1 The Lord thus speaketh to the Prophet, willing him to use all diligence and severity to rebuke the hypocrites.
- Isaiah 58:2 They will seem to worship me and have outward holiness.
- Isaiah 58:3 He setteth forth the malice and disdain of the hypocrites, which grudge against God, if their works be not accepted.
- Isaiah 58:3 Thus he convinceth the hypocrites by the second table, and by their duty toward their neighbor, that they have neither faith nor religion.
- Isaiah 58:4 So long as you use contention and oppression, your fasting and prayers shall not be heard.
- Isaiah 58:6 That you leave off all your extortions.
- Isaiah 58:7 For in him thou seest thyself as in a glass.
- Isaiah 58:8 That is, the prosperous estate wherewith God will bless thee.
- Isaiah 58:8 The Testimony of thy goodness shall appear before God and man.
- Isaiah 58:9 Whereby is meant all manner of injury.
- Isaiah 58:10 That is, have compassion on their miseries.
- Isaiah 58:10 Thine adversity shall be turned into prosperity.
- Isaiah 58:12 Signifying, that of the Jews should come such as should build again the ruins of Jerusalem and Judea: but chiefly this is meant of the spiritual Jerusalem, whose builders were the Apostles.
- Isaiah 58:13 If thou refrain thyself from thy wicked works.