Isaiah 58 (New American Standard)
View In My BibleObservances of Fasts
1 "1Cry loudly, do not hold back ; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their 2transgression And to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 "Yet they 3seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done 4righteousness And 5has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, They delight 6in the nearness of God. 3 'Why have we 7fasted and You do not see ? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not anotice ?' Behold, on the 8day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers. 4 "Behold, you fast for contention and 9strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to 10make your voice heard on high. 5 "Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself ? Is it for bowing bone's head like a reed And for spreading out 11sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an 12acceptable day to the LORD ? 6 "Is this not the fast which I choose, To 13loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to 14let the oppressed go free And 15break every yoke ? 7 "Is it not to 16divide your bread cwith the hungry And 17bring the homeless poor into the house ; When you see the 18naked, to cover him; And not to 19hide yourself from your own flesh ? 8 "Then your 20light will break out like the dawn, And your 21recovery will speedily spring forth ; And your 22righteousness will go before you; The glory of the 23LORD will be your rear guard. 9 "Then you will 24call, and the LORD will answer ; You will cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' If you 25remove the yoke from your midst, The d26pointing of the finger and 27speaking wickedness, 10 And if you e28give yourself to the hungry And satisfy the fdesire of the afflicted, Then your 29light will rise in darkness And your gloom will become like midday. 11 "And the 30LORD will continually guide you, And 31satisfy your gdesire in scorched places, And 32give strength to your bones ; And you will be like a 33watered garden, And like a 34spring of water whose waters do not hfail. 12 "Those from among you will 35rebuild the ancient ruins ; You will 36raise up the age-old foundations ; And you will be called the repairer of the 37breach, The restorer of the istreets in which to dwell.Keeping the Sabbath
13 "If because of the sabbath, you 38turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the sabbath a 39delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, desisting from your 40own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And 41speaking your own word, 14 Then you will take 42delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride 43on the heights of the earth ; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the 44mouth of the LORD has spoken."New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California. All rights reserved. (New American Standard Version - Holy Bible)
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