Isaiah 58 - Revised Standard Version Old Tradition 1952(RSV-C)

1“Cry aloud, spare not,

lift up your voice like a trumpet;

declare to my people their transgression,

to the house of Jacob their sins.

2Yet they seek me daily,

and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that did righteousness

and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments,

they delight to draw near to God.

3‘Why have we fasted, and thou seest it not?

Why have we humbled ourselves, and thou takest no knowledge of it?’

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,

and oppress all your workers.

4Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to hit with wicked fist.

Fasting like yours this day

will not make your voice to be heard on high.

5Is such the fast that I choose,

a day for a man to humble himself?

Is it to bow down his head like a rush,

and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?

Will you call this a fast,

and a day acceptable to the Lord?

6

and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water,

whose waters fail not.

12And 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;

14then you shall take delight in the Lord,

and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”