VerseAI

NIV

Isaiah 58

  1. 1<pb/><t>“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.</t> <t>Raise your voice like a trumpet.</t> <t>Declare to my people their rebellion</t> <t>and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.</t>
  2. 2<t>For day after day they seek me out;</t> <t>they seem eager to know my ways,</t> <t>as if they were a nation that does what is right</t> <t>and has not forsaken the commands of its God.</t> <t>They ask me for just decisions</t> <t>and seem eager for God to come near them.</t>
  3. 3<t>‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,</t> <t>‘and you have not seen it?</t> <t>Why have we humbled ourselves,</t> <t>and you have not noticed?’ <pb/>“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please</t> <t>and exploit all your workers.</t>
  4. 4<t>Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,</t> <t>and in striking each other with wicked fists.</t> <t>You cannot fast as you do today</t> <t>and expect your voice to be heard on high.</t>
  5. 5<t>Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,</t> <t>only a day for people to humble themselves?</t> <t>Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed</t> <t>and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?</t> <t>Is that what you call a fast,</t> <t>a day acceptable to the LORD? <pb/></t>
  6. 6<t>“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:</t> <t>to loose the chains of injustice</t> <t>and untie the cords of the yoke,</t> <t>to set the oppressed free</t> <t>and break every yoke?</t>
  7. 7<t>Is it not to share your food with the hungry</t> <t>and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—</t> <t>when you see the naked, to clothe them,</t> <t>and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?</t>
  8. 8<t>Then your light will break forth like the dawn,</t> <t>and your healing will quickly appear;</t> <t>then your righteousness<f>[112]</f> will go before you,</t> <t>and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.</t>
  9. 9<t>Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;</t> <t>you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. <pb/>“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,</t> <t>with the pointing finger and malicious talk,</t>
  10. 10<t>and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry</t> <t>and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,</t> <t>then your light will rise in the darkness,</t> <t>and your night will become like the noonday.</t>
  11. 11<t>The LORD will guide you always;</t> <t>he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land</t> <t>and will strengthen your frame.</t> <t>You will be like a well-watered garden,</t> <t>like a spring whose waters never fail.</t>
  12. 12<t>Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins</t> <t>and will raise up the age-old foundations;</t> <t>you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,</t> <t>Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. <pb/></t>
  13. 13<t>“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath</t> <t>and from doing as you please on my holy day,</t> <t>if you call the Sabbath a delight</t> <t>and the LORD’s holy day honorable,</t> <t>and if you honor it by not going your own way</t> <t>and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,</t>
  14. 14<t>then you will find your joy in the LORD,</t> <t>and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land</t> <t>and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”</t> <t>The mouth of the LORD has spoken.</t>