Isaiah 58

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

1God says, "Shout out loud. Do not hold back. Make your voice loud like a horn. Tell my people what they have done wrong. Tell the family of Jacob, the people of Israel, 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.

2"Day after day they look for me. They act glad to learn my ways. They look like a nation that does what is right. They look like people who keep God's rules. They ask me what is fair and right. They say they love being near 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.

3The people say, "We went without food. Why did you not see it? We made ourselves go hungry. Why did you not notice?" God answers, "On the day you go without food, you still do just what you want. And you push your workers very hard."

NoteTo fast means to go without food on purpose for a time. People did this to show God they were sorry.

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.

4"You go without food, and then you argue and fight. You hit people with angry fists. A fast like this will not get your voice heard by God above."

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?

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

NoteSackcloth was rough, scratchy cloth. People wore it and sat in ashes to show they were very sad or very sorry.

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?

6"Here is the fast I want. Untie the ropes that hold people down. Lift the heavy loads off their backs. Set free the people who are treated badly. Break every yoke."

NoteA yoke is a heavy wooden bar laid on animals to make them pull. Here it means anything that holds a person down.

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?

7"Share your bread with hungry people. Bring poor people who have no home into your house. When you see someone with no clothes, give him clothes. 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.

8"Then your light will shine like the morning sun. You will get well quickly. Your good and right living will go ahead of you. The bright glory of the LORD will guard you from behind."

NoteThe old word "rereward" means rear guard. That is the group of soldiers who protect people 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;

9"Then you will call, and the LORD will answer. You will cry out, and he will say, 'I am here.' So stop putting heavy loads on people. Stop pointing at people to blame them. Stop saying mean, empty things."

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:

10"Give your food to hungry people. Take care of people who are hurting. Then your light will shine in the dark. Your darkest time will be bright like the middle of the day."

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.

11"The LORD will lead you all the time. He will fill you up, even in a dry, sunburned land. He will make your body strong. You will be like a garden with plenty of water. You will be 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.

12"Your people will build up places that were broken down long ago. You will set walls back on their old foundations. People will call you the one who fixes broken walls. They will call you the one who makes streets safe to live on 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:

13"If you keep the sabbath my way, I have a promise for you. Do not spend my holy rest day doing just what you want. Call the sabbath a happy day. Call the LORD's holy day worth honoring. Honor it by not going your own way. Do not chase your own fun or fill the day with empty talk."

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.

14"Then you will be glad and happy in the LORD. I will let you ride high over the land. I will feed you from the land I gave to Jacob, your father long ago." The LORD himself has said this.