Isaiah 58:1-59:15

New King James Version

Fasting that Pleases God

58 “Cry aloud, ^[a]spare not;
Lift up your voice like a trumpet;
^(A)Tell My people their transgression,
And the house of Jacob their sins.
²Yet they seek Me daily,
And delight to know My ways,
As a nation that did righteousness,
And did not forsake the ordinance of their God.
They ask of Me the ordinances of justice;
They take delight in approaching God.
³‘Why^(B) have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen?
Why have we ^(C)afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’

“In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,
And ^[b]exploit all your laborers.
⁴^(D)Indeed you fast for strife and debate,
And to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You will not fast as you do this day,
To make your voice heard on high.
⁵Is ^(E)it a fast that I have chosen,
^(F)A day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,
And ^(G)to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call this a fast,
And an acceptable day to the Lord?

⁶“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To ^(H)loose the bonds of wickedness,
^(I)To undo the ^[c]heavy burdens,
^(J)To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
⁷Is it not ^(K)to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor who are ^[d]cast out;
^(L)When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from ^(M)your own flesh?
⁸^(N)Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousness shall go before you;
^(O)The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
⁹Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you take away the yoke from your midst,
The ^[e]pointing of the finger, and ^(P)speaking wickedness,
¹⁰If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your ^[f]darkness shall be as the noonday.
¹¹The Lord will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
¹²Those from among you
^(Q)Shall build the old waste places;
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,
The Restorer of ^[g]Streets to Dwell In.

¹³“If ^(R)you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy day of the Lord honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking your own words,
¹⁴^(S)Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord;
And I will cause you to ^(T)ride on the high hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
^(U)The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Separated from God

59 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not ^(V)shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
²But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will ^(W)not hear.
³For ^(X)your hands are defiled with ^[h]blood,
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity.

⁴No one calls for justice,
Nor does any plead for truth.
They trust in ^(Y)empty words and speak lies;
^(Z)They conceive ^[i]evil and bring forth iniquity.
⁵They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.

⁶^(AA)Their webs will not become garments,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of iniquity,
And the act of violence is in their hands.
⁷^(AB)Their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed ^(AC)innocent blood;
^(AD)Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
Wasting and ^(AE)destruction are in their paths.
⁸The way of ^(AF)peace they have not known,
And there is no justice in their ways;
^(AG)They have made themselves crooked paths;
Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

Sin Confessed

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,
Nor does righteousness overtake us;
^(AH)We look for light, but there is darkness!
For brightness, but we walk in blackness!
¹⁰^(AI)We grope for the wall like the blind,
And we grope as if we had no eyes;
We stumble at noonday as at twilight;
We are as dead men in desolate places.
¹¹We all growl like bears,
And ^(AJ)moan sadly like doves;
We look for justice, but there is none;
For salvation, but it is far from us.
¹²For our ^(AK)transgressions are multiplied before You,
And our sins testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And as for our iniquities, we know them:
¹³In transgressing and lying against the Lord,
And departing from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and uttering ^(AL)from the heart words of falsehood.
¹⁴Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands afar off;
For truth is fallen in the street,
And equity cannot enter.
¹⁵So truth fails,
And he who departs from evil makes himself a ^(AM)prey.