Isaiah 58

How to Honor God

1 The Lord says, “Shout out loud. Don’t hold back. Shout out loud like a trumpet.
Tell my people what they have done against their God; tell the family of Jacob about their sins.

2 They still come every day looking for me and want to learn my ways.
They act just like a nation that does what is right, that obeys the commands of its God.
They ask me to judge them fairly. They want God to be near them.

3 They say, ‘To honor you we had special days when we fasted, but you didn’t see.
We humbled ourselves to honor you, but you didn’t notice.’ ”
But the Lord says, “You do what pleases yourselves on these special days, and you are unfair to your workers.

4 On these special days when you fast, you argue and fight and hit each other with your fists.
You cannot do these things as you do now and believe your prayers are heard in heaven.

5 This kind of special day is not what I want. This is not the way I want people to be sorry for what they have done.
I don’t want people just to bow their heads like a plant and wear rough cloth and lie in ashes to show their sadness.
This is what you do on your special days when you fast, but do you think this is what the Lord wants?

6 “I will tell you the kind of fast I want:
Free the people you have put in prison unfairly and undo their chains.
Free those to whom you are unfair and stop their hard labor.

7 Share your food with the hungry and bring poor, homeless people into your own homes.
When you see someone who has no clothes, give him yours, and don’t refuse to help your own relatives.

8 Then your light will shine like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your God will walk before you, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

9 Then you will call out, and the Lord will answer. You will cry out, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
“If you stop making trouble for others, if you stop using cruel words and pointing your finger at others,

10 if you feed those who are hungry and take care of the needs of those who are troubled,
then your light will shine in the darkness, and you will be bright like sunshine at noon.

11 The Lord will always lead you. He will satisfy your needs in dry lands and give strength to your bones.
You will be like a garden that has much water, like a spring that never runs dry.

12 Your people will rebuild the old cities that are now in ruins; you will rebuild their foundations.
You will be known for repairing the broken places and for rebuilding the roads and houses.

13 “You must obey God’s law about the Sabbath and not do what pleases yourselves on that holy day.
You should call the Sabbath a joyful day and honor it as the Lord’s holy day.
You should honor it by not doing whatever you please nor saying whatever you please on that day.

14 Then you will find joy in the Lord, and I will carry you to the high places above the earth. I will let you eat the crops of the land your ancestor Jacob had.”
The Lord has said these things.

Isaiah 58

1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto my people their transgression, and to 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 forsook not the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near unto God.3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure, and exact all your labors.4 Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high.5 Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Jehovah?6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of Jehovah shall by thy rearward.9 Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly;10 and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noonday;11 and Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in dry places, and make strong thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of Jehovah honorable; and shalt honor it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:14 then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah; and I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth; and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.