Isaiah 58:6

6 Whether not this is more the fasting, which I choose? Unbind thou the bindings together of unpity, either of cruelty, release thou [the] burdens pressing down; deliver thou them free, that be broken, and break thou each burden. (Rather, is not this the fast, which I would choose? To unbind the bindings up of pitilessness, or of cruelty, to release the burdens of oppression, to set free those who be broken, and to break each burden.)

Isaiah 58:6 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 58:6

Is not this the fast that I have chosen?
&c.] Which God has appointed, he approves of, and is well pleasing in his sight; these are works and services more agreeable to him, which follow, without which the rest will be rejected: to loose the bands of wickedness;
which some understand of combinations in courts of judicature to oppress and distress the poor; others of bonds and contracts unjustly made, or rigorously demanded and insisted on, when they cannot be answered; rather of those things with which the consciences of men are bound in religious matters; impositions upon conscience; binding to the use of stinted forms, and to habits in divine worship, which the word of God has not made necessary: to undo the heavy burdens.
The Septuagint render it, "dissolve the obligations of violent contracts"; such as are obtained by violence; so the Arabic version; or by fraud, as the Syriac version, which translates it, bonds of fraud. The Targum is,

``loose the bonds of writings of a depraved judgment;''

all referring it to unjust bonds and contracts in a civil sense: but rather it regards the loosing or freeing men from all obligation to all human prescriptions and precepts; whatever is after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ; so the traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees are called "heavy burdens, grievous to be borne", ( Matthew 23:4 ) these should not be laid and bound on men's shoulders, but should be done and taken off of them, as well as all penal laws with which they have been enforced: and to let the oppressed go free;
such as have been broken by oppression, not only in their spirits, but in their purses, by mulcts and fines, and confiscation of goods; and who have been cast into prisons, and detained a long time in filthy dungeons; and where many have perished for the sake of religion, even in Protestant countries: and that ye break every yoke;
of church power and tyranny; everything that is not enjoined and authorized by the word of God; every yoke but the yoke of Christ; all human precepts, and obedience to them; all but the commands of Christ, and obedience to them; no other yoke should be put upon the neck of his disciples but his own.

Isaiah 58:6 In-Context

4 Lo! ye fast to chidings and strivings, and smite with the fist wickedly (Lo! your fasting leadeth only to chiding and to arguments, and to wickedly striking with the fist). Do not ye fast, as ye have unto this day, (so) that your cry (can once again) be heard on high.

5 Whether such is the fasting which I choose, a man to torment his soul by (a) day? whether to bind his head as a circle, and to make ready a sackcloth and ashes (to lie upon)? Whether thou shalt call this a fasting, and a day acceptable to the Lord? (Is that the fast which I would choose, yea, a day for a person to torment his soul? to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to prepare sackcloth and ashes to lie upon? Shalt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?)

6 Whether not this is more the fasting, which I choose? Unbind thou the bindings together of unpity, either of cruelty, release thou [the] burdens pressing down; deliver thou them free, that be broken, and break thou each burden. (Rather, is not this the fast, which I would choose? To unbind the bindings up of pitilessness, or of cruelty, to release the burdens of oppression, to set free those who be broken, and to break each burden.)

7 Break thy bread to the hungry man, and bring into thine house needy men and harbourless; when thou seest a naked man, cover thou him, and despise not thy flesh, that is, brother or sister. (Yea, break thy bread with the hungry, and bring into thy house the needy and the harbourless, that is, the homeless; when thou seest a naked person, cover thou him, and despise not thy flesh, that is, thy own brother, or thy own sister.)

8 Then thy light shall break out as the morrowtide, and thine health shall rise full soon; and thy rightfulness shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee to rest. (Then thy light shall break out like the dawn, and thy healing shall come quickly; and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall protect thee.)