Isaiah 58:3-5

EasyEnglish Bible

³ They say to me, “We have fasted to please you,
    but you do not see it.
We make ourselves humble
    and you do not even look.”
Listen to me! Yes you fast,
    but you do it to please yourselves.
At the same time as you are fasting,
    you are being cruel to the people who work for you.
⁴ Yes! While you are fasting,
    you are also quarrelling and you are fighting.
    You hit each other with your fists.
If you want your prayers to reach me in heaven,
    you cannot continue to fast in the way that you do today.
⁵ The way that you fast does not please me at all:
You make yourselves humble for a day.
You bend down your head,
    like a piece of weak grass.
You lie down on sackcloth and ashes.
Do you think that you are really fasting when you do that?
    Do you think that it pleases me, the Lord?