# Isaiah 58 (New King James Version)
Fasting that Pleases God

##### Chapter 58
###### 1 "Cry aloud, spare not;  
Lift up your voice like a trumpet;  
Tell My people their transgression,  
And the house of Jacob their sins.  

###### 2 Yet they seek Me daily,  
And delight to know My ways,  
As a nation that did righteousness,  
And did not forsake the ordinance of their God.  
They ask of Me the ordinances of justice;  
They take delight in approaching God.  

###### 3 'Why have we fasted,' _they say,_ 'and You have not seen?  
_Why_ have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?'
"In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,  
And exploit all your laborers.  

###### 4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate,  
And to strike with the fist of wickedness.  
You will not fast as _you do_ this day,  
To make your voice heard on high.  

###### 5 Is it a fast that I have chosen,  
A day for a man to afflict his soul?  
_Is it_ to bow down his head like a bulrush,  
And to spread out sackcloth and ashes?  
Would you call this a fast,  
And an acceptable day to the Lord?

###### 6 "_Is_ this not the fast that I have chosen:  
To loose the bonds of wickedness,  
To undo the heavy burdens,  
To let the oppressed go free,  
And that you break every yoke?  

###### 7 _Is it_ not to share your bread with the hungry,  
And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;  
When you see the naked, that you cover him,  
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?  

###### 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning,  
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,  
And 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 extend your soul to the hungry  
And satisfy the afflicted soul,  
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,  
And your darkness shall _be_ as the noonday.  

###### 11 The Lord will guide you continually,  
And satisfy your soul in drought,  
And strengthen your bones;  
You shall be like a watered garden,  
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.  

###### 12 Those from among you  
Shall build the old waste places;  
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;  
And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,  
The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

###### 13 "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,  
_From_ doing your pleasure on My holy day,  
And call the Sabbath a delight,  
The holy _day_ of the Lord honorable,  
And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,  
Nor finding your own pleasure,  
Nor speaking _your own_ words,  

###### 14 Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord;  
And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,  
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.  
The mouth of the Lord has spoken."