Isaiah 58
Good News Translation
True Fasting
58 The Lord says, “Shout as loud as you can! Tell my people Israel about their sins! 2 They worship me every day, claiming that they are eager to know my ways and obey my laws. They say they want me to give them just laws and that they take pleasure in worshiping me.”
3 The people ask, “Why should we fast if the Lord never notices? Why should we go without food if he pays no attention?”
The Lord says to them, “The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers. 4 Your fasting makes you violent, and you quarrel and fight. Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers? 5 When you fast, you make yourselves suffer; you bow your heads low like a blade of grass and spread out sackcloth and ashes to lie on. Is that what you call fasting? Do you think I will be pleased with that?
6 “The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. 7 (A)Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.
8 “Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed. I will always be with you to save you; my presence will protect you on every side. 9 When you pray, I will answer you. When you call to me, I will respond.
“If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word; 10 if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon. 11 And I will always guide you and satisfy you with good things. I will keep you strong and well. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that never goes dry. 12 Your people will rebuild what has long been in ruins, building again on the old foundations. You will be known as the people who rebuilt the walls, who restored the ruined houses.”
The Reward for Keeping the Sabbath
13 The Lord says, “If you treat the Sabbath as sacred and do not pursue your own interests on that day; if you value my holy day and honor it by not traveling, working, or talking idly on that day, 14 then you will find the joy that comes from serving me. I will make you honored all over the world, and you will enjoy the land I gave to your ancestor, Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
Isaiah 58
English Standard Version
True and False Fasting
58 “Cry aloud; do not hold back;
(A)lift up your voice like a trumpet;
(B)declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 (C)Yet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
3 (D)‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,[a]
(E)and oppress all your workers.
4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
5 (F)Is such the fast that I choose,
(G)a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose:
(H)to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps (I)of the yoke,
to let the oppressed[b] go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not (J)to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
(K)and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 (L)Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
(M)and your healing shall spring up speedily;
(N)your righteousness shall go before you;
(O)the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away (P)the yoke from your midst,
(Q)the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 (R)if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
(S)then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
11 And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be (T)like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
12 (U)And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
13 (V)“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure[c] on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
or seeking (W)your own pleasure,[d] or talking idly;[e]
14 then you shall take delight in the Lord,
(X)and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;[f]
(Y)I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
(Z)for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 58:3 Or pursue your own business
- Isaiah 58:6 Or bruised
- Isaiah 58:13 Or business
- Isaiah 58:13 Or pursuing your own business
- Isaiah 58:13 Hebrew or speaking a word
- Isaiah 58:14 Or of the land
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
