Isaiah 58:1

What True Worship Is All About

1 The LORD told me, "Shout out loud. Do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people that they have refused to obey me. Tell the family of Jacob how much they have sinned.

Isaiah 58:1 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 58:1

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet
These words are directed to the prophet; and so the Targum expresses it,

``O prophet, cry with thy throat;''

and so it is in the original, "cry with the throat" ^F4, which is an instrument of speech; and it denotes a loud, strong, vehement cry, when a man exerts his voice, and as it were rends his throat, that he may be heard; as well as it shows the intenseness of his spirit, and the vehemence of his affections, and the importance of what he delivers; and this the prophet is encouraged to do, and "spare not", the voice, throat, or his lungs, nor the people neither he was sent unto; or, "cease not", as the Targum, refrain not from speaking, "cease not crying"; so Ben Melech: "lift up thy voice like a trumpet"; like the voice or sound of a trumpet, which is heard afar, and gives an alarm; and to which the Gospel ministry is sometimes compared, ( Isaiah 27:13 ) all which shows the manner in which the ministers of the word should deliver it, publicly, boldly, with ardour and affection; and also the deafness and stupidity of the people which require it: and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their
sins;
by whom are meant the professing people of God, the present reformed churches, as distinguished from the antichristian ones, spoken of in the preceding chapter; who yet are guilty of many sins and transgressions, which must be showed them, and they must be sharply reproved for; and particularly their coldness and deadness, formality and hypocrisy in religious worship; their "works not being perfect" before God, or sincere and upright, as is said of the Sardian church, which designs the same persons, ( Revelation 3:1 Revelation 3:2 ) . In the Talmud ^F5 the words are thus paraphrased, "shew my people their transgression"; these are the disciples of the wise men, whose sins of error or ignorance become to them presumptuous ones; "and the house of Jacob their sins"; these are the people of the earth, or the common people, whose presumptuous sins become to them as sins of ignorance.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (Nwrgb arq) "clama in gutture", Pagninus, Montanus; "exclama gutture", Junius & Tremellius; "exclama pleno gutture", Piscator; "clama pleno gut ture", Cocceius.
F5 T. Bab. Metzia, fol. 33. 2.

Isaiah 58:1 In-Context

1 The LORD told me, "Shout out loud. Do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people that they have refused to obey me. Tell the family of Jacob how much they have sinned.

2 Day after day they worship me. They seem ready and willing to know how I want them to live. They act as if they were a nation that does what is right. They act as if they have not turned away from my commands. They claim to want me to give them fair decisions. They seem ready and willing to come near and worship me.

3 'We have gone without food,' they say. 'Why haven't you noticed it? We have made ourselves suffer. Why haven't you paid any attention to us?' "On the day when you fast, you do as you please. You take advantage of all of your workers.

4 When you fast, it ends in arguing and fighting. You hit one another with your fists. That is an evil thing to do. The way you are now fasting keeps your prayers from being heard in heaven.

5 Do you think that is the way I want you to fast? Is it only a time for a man to make himself suffer? Is it only for people to bow their heads like tall grass that is bent by the wind? Is it only for people to lie down on black cloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast? Do you think I can accept that?