Isaiah 58:3-5
The Voice
3 People: Why didn’t You notice how diligently we fasted before You?
We humbled ourselves with pious practices and You paid no attention.
Eternal One: I have to tell you, on those fasting days,
all you were really seeking was your own pleasure;
Besides you were busy defrauding people and abusing your workers.
4 Your kind of fasting is pointless, for it only leads to bitter quarrels,
contentious backbiting, and vicious fighting.
You are not fasting today because you want Me to hear your voice.
5 What kind of a fast do I choose? Is a true fast simply
some religious exercise for making a person feel miserable and woeful?
Is it about how you bow your head (like a bent reed), how you dress (in sackcloth), and where you sit (in a bed of ashes)?
Is this what you call a fast, a day the Eternal One finds good and proper?
Isaiah 58:3-5
New International Version
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’(A) they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled(B) ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’(C)
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please(D)
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,(E)
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard(F) on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast(G) I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble(H) themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed(I)
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?(J)
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
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