1Cry aloud , spare not , lift up thy voice like a trumpet , and declare unto my people their transgression , and to the house of Jacob their sins . 2Yet they seek me daily , and delight to know my ways : as a nation that did righteousness , and forsook not the ordinance of their God , they ask of me righteous judgments ; they delight to draw near unto God . 3Wherefore have we fasted , say they , and thou seest not ? wherefore have we afflicted our soul , and thou takest no knowledge ? Behold , in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure , and exact all your labors. 4Behold , ye fast for strife and contention , and to smite with the fist of wickedness : ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high . 5Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul ? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him ? wilt thou call this a fast , and an acceptable day to Jehovah ?
The Results of True Fasting
6Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness , to undo the bands of the yoke , and to let the oppressed go free , and that ye break every yoke ? 7Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry , and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked , that thou cover him ; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ? 8Then shall thy light break forth as the morning , and thy healing shall spring forth speedily ; and thy righteousness shall go before thee ; the glory of Jehovah shall be thy rearward. 9Then shalt thou call , and Jehovah will answer ; thou shalt cry , and he will say , Here I am . If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke , the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly; 10and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry , and satisfy the afflicted soul : then shall thy light rise in darkness , and thine obscurity be as the noonday ;
The Call to Restore and Rebuild
11and Jehovah will guide thee continually , and satisfy thy soul in dry places , and make strong thy bones ; and thou shalt be like a watered garden , and like a spring of water , whose waters fail not . 12And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places ; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations ; and thou shalt be called The repairer of the breach , The restorer of paths to dwell in . 13If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath , from doing thy pleasure on my holy day ; and call the sabbath a delight , and the holy of Jehovah honorable ; and shalt honor it , not doing thine own ways , nor finding thine own pleasure , nor speaking thine own words : 14then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah ; and I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth; and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it .