Isaiah 58

Isaiah 58

False and True Worship

1Shout out; do not hold back![#Isa 48.8; 50.1; 59.12]

Lift up your voice like a trumpet!

Announce to my people their rebellion,

to the house of Jacob their sins.

2Yet day after day they seek me[#Isa 1.11; 29.13; 48.1; 59.13]

and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness

and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments;

they want God on their side.

3“Why do we fast, but you do not see?[#Isa 22.12, 13; Mal 3.14]

Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day

and oppress all your workers.

4You fast only to quarrel and to fight[#1 Kings 21.9, 12, 13; Isa 59.2]

and to strike with a wicked fist.

Such fasting as you do today

will not make your voice heard on high.

5Is such the fast that I choose,[#Esth 4.3; Job 2.8; Zech 7.5]

a day to humble oneself?

Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush

and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?

Will you call this a fast,

a day acceptable to the Lord ?

6Is not this the fast that I choose:[#Neh 5.10–12; Jer 34.9]

to loose the bonds of injustice,

to undo the straps of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?

7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry[#Gen 29.14; Neh 5.5; Job 31.19; Ezek 18.7, 16; Mt 25.35]

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover them

and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

8Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,[#v 10 ; Ex 14.19; Isa 30.26; 52.12; 62.1]

and your healing shall spring up quickly;

your vindicator shall go before you;

the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

9Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;[#v 6 ; Ps 12.2; Isa 55.6]

you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.”

If you remove the yoke from among you,

the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,

10if you offer your food to the hungry[#v 7 ; Ps 37.6]

and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,

then your light shall rise in the darkness

and your gloom be like the noonday.

11The Lord will guide you continually[#Isa 41.17; 49.10; 66.14; Jn 4.14; 7.38]

and satisfy your needs in parched places

and make your bones strong,

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water

whose waters never fail.

12Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;[#Isa 30.13; 44.28; 49.8; Am 9.11]

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

the restorer of streets to live in.

13If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath,[#Ps 84.2, 10; Isa 55.8; 56.2; 59.13]

from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;

if you call the Sabbath a delight

and the holy day of the Lord honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

serving your own interests or pursuing your own affairs;

14then you shall take delight in the Lord ,[#Deut 32.13; Isa 1.19, 20; 61.10]

and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, copyright © 2021 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Published by: National Council of the Churches of Christ