Isaiah

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

1Shout out loud. Do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people what they have done wrong. Tell Jacob's family about their sins.

2Yet 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 the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

2Day after day they look for me. They seem glad to learn my ways. They act like a nation that does right and has not left God's rules behind. They ask me for fair decisions. They seem glad to come near to God.

3Wherefore 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 pleasure, and exact all your labours.

3They say, "Why have we gone without food, and you did not see? Why have we gone hungry to humble ourselves, and you took no notice?" Here is why. On the day you fast, you do just what you please. You drive your workers hard.

4Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

4Look at how you fast. You argue, you fight, you hit people with angry fists. Fasting like this will never get your voice heard in heaven.

5Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

5Is that the kind of fast I want? A day for a person to go hungry? Bowing your head like a bent reed, lying on rough cloth and ashes? Do you call that a fast, a day that pleases the LORD?

NoteSackcloth was scratchy cloth made from goat hair. Wearing it and sitting in ashes was how people showed deep sorrow or grief.

6Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

6Here is the fast I want. Untie the ropes that hold people down. Loosen the straps of heavy loads. Set the crushed people free. Break every yoke.

NoteA yoke is a heavy wooden bar laid across the neck of an ox so it can pull a plow. Here it stands for anything that weighs people down or holds them like slaves.

7Is 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?

7Share your bread with hungry people. Bring the poor who have no home into your house. When you see someone with no clothes, clothe him. Do not turn away from your own family.

8Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.

8Then your light will break out like the sunrise, and your wounds will heal fast. Your right living will go ahead of you, and the glory of the LORD will guard your back.

NoteThe KJV word "rereward" means rear guard: the soldiers who march at the back of an army to protect it from attack from behind.

9Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

9Then you will call, and the LORD will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, "Here I am." Take the yoke off people. Stop pointing fingers to blame. Stop saying cruel, empty words.

10And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:

10Give yourself to feed the hungry. Meet the needs of people who are suffering. Then your light will shine out in the dark, and your night will be as bright as noon.

11And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

11The LORD will guide you all the time. He will fill your needs even in dry, burning land, and make your bones strong. You will be like a garden with plenty of water, like a spring that never runs dry.

12And 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.

12Your people will rebuild places that have been ruins for years. You will lay again the foundations set long ago. People will call you the one who repairs broken walls, the one who makes streets fit to live in again.

13If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

13Keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath, the weekly day of rest set apart for God. Do not do as you please on my holy day. Call the Sabbath a delight and treat the LORD's holy day as something to honor. Honor it by not going your own way, chasing your own fun, or pushing your own business.

14Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

14Then you will find your joy in the LORD. I will let you ride high over the land. I will feed you with the land promised to your father Jacob. The mouth of the LORD has said it.