The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 58

 The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 58

1 Cry aloud, do not hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet! Declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of justice; they delight to draw near to God.

3 They say, “Why have we fasted, and you have not seen it? Why have we afflicted our souls, and you take no notice? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labors.

4 Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike wicked blows. You must not fast as you do today, to make your voice heard on high.

5 Is this the kind of fasting I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 

9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry out, and he will say: Here I am. If you remove from your midst the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking vanity;

10 And if you open your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will dawn in the darkness, and your gloom will be like midday.

11 And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and strengthen your bones; they shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.

12 And those who come from you shall rebuild the ancient ruins; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in.

13 If you turn your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord worthy and honorable, and honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,

14 Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.