Isaiah 58:4-6

Contemporary English Version

⁴You even get angry
and ready to fight.
No wonder God won't listen
to your prayers!

⁵Do you think the Lord
    wants you to give up eating
and to act as humble
    as a bent-over bush?
Or to dress in sackcloth
    and sit in ashes?
Is this really what he wants
    on a day of worship?

⁶I'll tell you
what it really means
to worship the Lord.
Remove the chains of prisoners
who are bound unjustly.
Free those who are abused!

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Isaiah 58:4-6

New International Version

⁴Your 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.
⁵Is 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?

⁶“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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Isaiah 58:4-6

King James Version

⁴Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

⁵Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?

⁶Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

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