You fast with contention and strife
to strike viciously with your fist.
You cannot fast as you do today,
hoping to make your voice heard on high.
Will the fast I choose be like this:
A day for a person to deny himself,
to bow his head like a reed,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes?(A)
Will you call this a fast
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
Isn’t this the fast I choose:
To break the chains of wickedness,(B)
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
and to tear off every yoke?(C)

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Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,(A)
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard(B) on high.
Is this the kind of fast(C) I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble(D) themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed(E)
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?(F)
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

“Is not this the kind of fasting(G) I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice(H)
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed(I) free
    and break every yoke?(J)

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