Isaiah 58
58CRY ALOUD, spare not. Lift up your voice like a trumpet and declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins!H7121H1627H2820H7311H6963H7782H5046H5971H6588H1004H3290H24032Yet they seek, inquire for, {and} require Me daily and delight [externally] to know My ways, as [if they were in reality] a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God [in visible ways].H1875H3117H3117H2654H1847H1870H1471H6213H6666H5800H4941H430H7592H4941H6664H2654H7132H4303Why have we fasted, they say, and You do not see it? Why have we afflicted ourselves, and You take no knowledge [of it]? Behold [O Israel], on the day of your fast [when you should be grieving for your sins], you find profit in your business, and [instead of stopping all work, as the law implies you and your workmen should do] you extort from your hired servants a full amount of labor.H6684H7200H6031H5315H3045H3117H6685H4672H2656H5065H60924[The facts are that] you fast only for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Fasting as you do today will not cause your voice to be heard on high.H6684H7379H4683H5221H106H7562H6684H3117H6963H8085H47915Is such a fast as yours what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself with sorrow in his soul? [Is true fasting merely mechanical?] Is it only to bow down his head like a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him [to indicate a condition of heart that he does not have]? Will you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?H6685H977H3117H120H6031H5315H3721H7218H100H3331H8242H665H7121H2088H6685H7522H3117H30686[Rather] is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every [enslaving] yoke?H6685H977H6605H2784H7562H5425H4133H92H7533H7971H2670H5423H41337Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house--when you see the naked, that you cover him, and that you hide not yourself from [the needs of] your own flesh {and} blood?H6536H3899H7457H935H6041H4788H1004H7200H6174H3680H5956H13208Then shall your light break forth like the morning, and your healing (your restoration and the power of a new life) shall spring forth speedily; your righteousness (your rightness, your justice, and your right relationship with God) shall go before you [conducting you to peace and prosperity], and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.H216H1234H7837H724H6779H4120H6664H1980H6440H3519H3068H6229Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, Here I am. If you take away from your midst yokes of oppression [wherever you find them], the finger pointed in scorn [toward the oppressed or the godly], and every form of false, harsh, unjust, {and} wicked speaking,H7121H3068H6030H7768H559H5493H8432H4133H7971H676H1696H20510And if you pour out that with which you sustain your own life for the hungry and satisfy the need of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in darkness, and your obscurity {and} gloom become like the noonday.H6329H5315H7457H7646H6031H5315H216H2224H2822H653H667211And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought {and} in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.H3068H5148H8548H7646H5315H6710H2502H6106H7302H1588H4161H4325H4325H357612And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.H1129H5769H2723H6965H4146H1755H1755H7121H1443H6556H7725H5410H342713If you turn away your foot from [traveling unduly on] the Sabbath, from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a [spiritual] delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor Him {and} it, not going your own way or seeking {or} finding your own pleasure or speaking with your own [idle] words,H7725H7272H7676H6213H2656H6944H3117H7121H7676H6027H6918H3068H3513H3513H6213H1870H4672H2656H1696H169714Then will you delight yourself in the Lord, and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage [promised for you] of Jacob your father; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.H6026H3068H7392H1116H776H398H5159H3290H1H6310H3068H1696
Columbus, OH
