Isaiah 58:5-7
The 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?
6 No, what I want in a fast is this:
to liberate those tied down and held back by injustice,
to lighten the load of those heavily burdened,
to free the oppressed and shatter every type of oppression.
7 A fast for Me involves sharing your food with people who have none,
giving those who are homeless a space in your home,
Giving clothes to those who need them, and not neglecting your own family.
Isaiah 58:5-7
New International Version
5 Is this the kind of fast(A) I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble(B) themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed(C)
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?(D)
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting(E) I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice(F)
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed(G) free
and break every yoke?(H)
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry(I)
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter(J)—
when you see the naked, to clothe(K) them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?(L)
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