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Tell My people their transgression,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek after Me,
and appear keen to know My ways,
as if they are a nation that does right,
and do not forsake the ordinances of their God.
They ask Me for righteous judgments,
as though they delight in having God draw near.”
3 ‘Why do we fast’, they ask,
‘and You do not see it?
‘We do we afflict our souls,
and You take no notice?’
“Look, on your day of fasting, you do as you please,
and exploit all your workers.
4 Look, you fast with quarrelling and strife,
and striking with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today,
and expect your voices to be heard on High.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen?
Is it merely a day for a man to humble himself,
to bow his head like a reed,
and to lay in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the type of fast I have chosen:
To loose the chains of wickedness,
to untie the cords of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free
and to tear off every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the poor and outcasts into your home,
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will spring forth rapidly.
Your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call out, and the Lord will answer;
when you cry for help, He will say: ‘Here I am!’
“If you banish the yoke of oppression from those around you,
the finger-pointing and malicious talk,
10 and if you draw out your soul to the hungry,
and satisfy the afflicted soul,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you always;
He will satisfy your soul in a parched land,
and strengthen your bones.
You will be like a watered garden,
and like a spring of water that never fails.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;
you will restore the foundations laid in generations past;
you will be called Repairer of the Broken Walls,
The Restorer of Streets to Live In.
13 “If you turn your foot away from breaking the Sabbath,
and from doing what you please on My holy day;
if you call the Sabbath a delight,
and the holy day of the Lord honourable;
if you honour Him, not going your own ways,
not finding your own pleasure, neither speaking idle words;
14 then you will delight yourself in the Lord;
and I will cause you to ride over the heights of the land,
and to feast on the heritage of Jacob your father.”
The mouth of the Lord has spoken.