Jesaja 58,6 | New International Reader’s Version

What true worship is all about

1 The LORD told me, ‘Shout out loud. Do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people that they have refused to obey me. Tell the family of Jacob how much they have sinned. 2 Day after day they worship me. They seem ready and willing to know how I want them to live. They act as if they were a nation that does what is right. They act as if they have not turned away from my commands. They claim to want me to give them fair decisions. They seem ready and willing to come near and worship me. 3 “We have gone without food,” they say. “Why haven’t you noticed it? We have made ourselves suffer. Why haven’t you paid any attention to us?” ‘On the day when you fast, you do as you please. You take advantage of all your workers. 4 When you fast, it ends in arguing and fighting. You hit one another with your fists. That is an evil thing to do. The way you are now fasting keeps your prayers from being heard in heaven. 5 Do you think that is the way I want you to fast? Is it only a time for people to make themselves suffer? Is it only for people to bow their heads like tall grass bent by the wind? Is it only for people to lie down in ashes and clothes of mourning? Is that what you call a fast? Do you think I can accept that? 6 ‘Here is the way I want you to fast. ‘Set free those who are held by chains without any reason. Untie the ropes that hold people as slaves. Set free those who are crushed. Break every evil chain. 7 Share your food with hungry people. Provide homeless people with a place to stay. Give naked people clothes to wear. Provide for the needs of your own family. 8 Then the light of my blessing will shine on you like the rising sun. I will heal you quickly. I will march out ahead of you. And my glory will follow behind you and guard you. That’s because I always do what is right. 9 You will call out to me for help. And I will answer you. You will cry out. And I will say, “Here I am.” ‘Get rid of the chains you use to hold others down. Stop pointing your finger at others as if they had done something wrong. Stop saying harmful things about them. 10 Work hard to feed hungry people. Satisfy the needs of those who are crushed. Then my blessing will light up your darkness. And the night of your suffering will become as bright as the noonday sun. 11 I will always guide you. I will satisfy your needs in a land baked by the sun. I will make you stronger. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water. You will be like a spring whose water never runs dry. 12 Your people will rebuild the cities that were destroyed long ago. And you will build again on the old foundations. You will be called One Who Repairs Broken Walls. You will be called One Who Makes City Streets Like New Again. 13 ‘Do not work on the Sabbath day. Do not do just anything you want to on my holy day. Make the Sabbath a day you can enjoy. Honour the LORD’s holy day. Do not work on it. Do not do just anything you want to. Do not talk about things that are worthless. 14 Then you will find your joy in me. I will give you control over the most important places in the land. And you will enjoy all the good things in the land I gave your father Jacob.’ The LORD has spoken.

English Standard Version

True and False Fasting

1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 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 ‘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,* 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 Is such the fast that I choose, 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: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed* go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; 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 the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, 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 like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 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 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure* 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 your own pleasure,* or talking idly;* 14 then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;* I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Jesaja 58,6 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

What true worship is all about

True and False Fasting