Fasting that Pleases God

58 “Cry aloud, 1spare not;

Lift up your voice like a trumpet;

aTell My people their transgression,

And the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yet they seek Me daily,

And delight to know My ways,

As a nation that did righteousness,

And did not forsake the ordinance of their God.

They ask of Me the ordinances of justice;

They take delight in approaching God.

3 ‘Why bhave we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen?

Why have we cafflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’

“In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,

And 2exploit all your laborers.

4 dIndeed you fast for strife and debate,

And to strike with the fist of wickedness.

You will not fast as you do this day,

To make your voice heard on high.

5 Is eit a fast that I have chosen,

fA day for a man to afflict his soul?

Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,

And gto spread out sackcloth and ashes?

Would you call this a fast,

And an acceptable day to the Lord?

6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen:

To hloose the bonds of wickedness,

iTo undo the 3heavy burdens,

jTo let the oppressed go free,

And that you break every yoke?

7 Is it not kto share your bread with the hungry,

And that you bring to your house the poor who are 4cast out;

lWhen you see the naked, that you cover him,

And not hide yourself from myour own flesh?

8 nThen your light shall break forth like the morning,

Your healing shall spring forth speedily,

And your righteousness shall go before you;

oThe glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;

You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you take away the yoke from your midst,

The 5pointing of the finger, and pspeaking wickedness,

10 If you extend your soul to the hungry

And satisfy the afflicted soul,

Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,

And your 6darkness shall be as the noonday.

11 The Lord will guide you continually,

And satisfy your soul in drought,

And strengthen your bones;

You shall be like a watered garden,

And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

12 Those from among you

qShall build the old waste places;

You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,

The Restorer of 7Streets to Dwell In.

13 “If ryou turn away your foot from the Sabbath,

From doing your pleasure on My holy day,

And call the Sabbath a delight,

The holy day of the Lord honorable,

And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,

Nor finding your own pleasure,

Nor speaking your own words,

14 sThen you shall delight yourself in the Lord;

And I will cause you to tride on the high hills of the earth,

And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.

uThe mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Separated from God

59 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not ashortened,

That it cannot save;

Nor His ear heavy,

That it cannot hear.

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;

And your sins have hidden His face from you,

So that He will bnot hear.

3 For cyour hands are defiled with 1blood,

And your fingers with iniquity;

Your lips have spoken lies,

Your tongue has muttered perversity.

4 No one calls for justice,

Nor does any plead for truth.

They trust in dempty words and speak lies;

eThey conceive 2evil and bring forth iniquity.

5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;

He who eats of their eggs dies,

And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.

6 fTheir webs will not become garments,

Nor will they cover themselves with their works;

Their works are works of iniquity,

And the act of violence is in their hands.

7 gTheir feet run to evil,

And they make haste to shed hinnocent blood;

iTheir thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;

Wasting and jdestruction are in their paths.

8 The way of kpeace they have not known,

And there is no justice in their ways;

lThey have made themselves crooked paths;

Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

Sin Confessed

9 Therefore justice is far from us,

Nor does righteousness overtake us;

mWe look for light, but there is darkness!

For brightness, but we walk in blackness!

10 nWe grope for the wall like the blind,

And we grope as if we had no eyes;

We stumble at noonday as at twilight;

We are as dead men in desolate places.

11 We all growl like bears,

And omoan sadly like doves;

We look for justice, but there is none;

For salvation, but it is far from us.

12 For our ptransgressions are multiplied before You,

And our sins testify against us;

For our transgressions are with us,

And as for our iniquities, we know them:

13 In transgressing and lying against the Lord,

And departing from our God,

Speaking oppression and revolt,

Conceiving and uttering qfrom the heart words of falsehood.

14 Justice is turned back,

And righteousness stands afar off;

For truth is fallen in the street,

And equity cannot enter.

15 So truth fails,

And he who departs from evil makes himself a rprey.