Isaiah 58:4-11

True and False Fasting

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 h Is such the fast that I choose,
i 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:
j to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps k of the yoke,
to let the oppressed 1 go free,
and to break every yoke?
 7 Is it not l to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
m and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
 8 n Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
o and your healing shall spring up speedily;
p your righteousness shall go before you;
q 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 r the yoke from your midst,
s the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
 10 t if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
n 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 u like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.

  1. Cross References
    Zechariah 7:5
    Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?
  2. Cross References
    Leviticus 16:29
    And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.
  3. Cross References
    Nehemiah 5:10 - 12
    Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest.
  4. Cross References
    Isaiah 58:9
    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.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 58:10
    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.
    Ezekiel 18:7
    Does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment.
    Matthew 25:35
    For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
  6. Cross References
    Nehemiah 5:5
    Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.
  7. Cross References
    Job 11:17
    And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.
  8. Cross References
    Jeremiah 30:17
    For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, because they have called you an outcast: 'It is Zion, for whom no one cares!
  9. Cross References
    Psalms 85:13
    Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way.
  10. Cross References
    Isaiah 52:12
    For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
  11. Cross References
    Isaiah 58:6
    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?
  12. Cross References
    Proverbs 6:13
    Winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger.
  13. Cross References
    Isaiah 58:7 - 8
    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?
  14. Cross References
    Isaiah 58:8
    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.
  15. Cross References
    Jeremiah 31:12
    They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.