1Shout loudly, don't hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people about their disobedience and the house of Jacob about their sins.
2Yet they seek me daily and delight in knowing my ways. Like a nation that did what was right and did not abandon the laws of their God, they ask me for fair judgments. They delight in drawing near to God.
3They ask, 'Why have we fasted, and you don't see? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you don't notice?' Look, on the day of your fast, you pursue your own pleasures and oppress all your workers.
4Look, you fast with quarrels and fights, and to strike with wicked fists. You are not fasting today in a way that will make your voice heard on high.
5Is this the kind of fasting I consider appropriate? A day for someone to humble themselves? Is it about bowing your head like a reed, and lying on sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast pleasing to Yahweh?
6No, the fasting I choose is this: to release those unjustly held, to untie the ropes of burdens, to set the oppressed free, and to break every oppressive yoke.
7It is to share your food with the hungry, and to bring the homeless poor into your house. When you see someone naked, you should clothe them, and not neglect your own family.
8Then your light will shine like the morning sun, and your healing will quickly appear. Your righteousness will go before you, and Yahweh’s glory will protect your rear.
9Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you stop oppressing others, stop pointing fingers, and stop speaking maliciously;
10and if you generously give your food to the hungry and satisfy those in need, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your gloom will become as bright as noonday.
11Yahweh will guide you continually, satisfy your needs in dry places, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a well-watered garden, and like a spring whose water never dries up.
12Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will re-establish foundations from generations past. You will be called the Repairer of Broken Walls, the Restorer of Streets with Homes.
13If you stop trampling the Sabbath, from doing your own desires on my holy day, and you call the Sabbath a delight, and Yahweh’s holy day honorable; and you honor it by not pursuing your own ways, not seeking your own pleasure, and not speaking idle words:
14then you will find joy in Yahweh. I will make you ride on the high places of the earth and feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father.” For Yahweh himself has spoken it.