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You fast so you can fight and quarrel,
so you can strike with a wicked fist.
You should not fast the way you are doing it today
if you expect God on high to hear your voice.
Is this the kind of fast that I would choose:
    a day when a person afflicts himself
    and bows his head like a reed
    and makes his bed on sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast, a day to gain the Lord’s favor?

On the contrary, isn’t this the kind of fast that I would choose:
    to loosen the chains of wickedness,
    to tear apart the ropes of a yoke,
    to release the oppressed so they go free,
    and to tear every yoke to pieces?

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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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