True Fasts and Sabbaths
1Cryaloud,sparenot, liftup thy voicelike a trumpet,and shewmy peopletheir transgression,and the houseof Jacobtheir sins.
2Yet they seekme daily,and delightto knowmy ways,as a nationthat didrighteousness,and forsooknot the ordinanceof their God:they askof me the ordinancesof justice;they take delightin approachingto God.
3Wherefore have we fasted,[say they], and thou seestnot? [wherefore] have we afflictedour soul,and thou takest no knowledge?Behold, in the dayof your fastye findpleasure,and exactall your labours.
4Behold, ye fastfor strifeand debate,and to smitewith the fistof wickedness:ye shall not fastas [ye do this] day,to make your voiceto be heardon high.
5Is it such a fastthat I have chosen?a dayfor a manto afflicthis soul?[is it] to bow downhis headas a bulrush,and to spreadsackclothand ashes[under him]? wilt thou callthisa fast,and an acceptabledayto the LORD?
6[Is] not this the fastthat I have chosen?to loosethe bandsof wickedness,to undothe heavyburdens,and to let the oppressedgofree,and that ye breakevery yoke?
7[Is it] not to dealthy breadto the hungry,and that thou bringthe poorthat are cast outto thy house?when thou seestthe naked,that thou coverhim; and that thou hidenot thyself from thine own flesh?
8Then shall thy lightbreak forthas the morning,and thine healthshall spring forthspeedily:and thy righteousnessshall gobeforethee; the gloryof the LORDshall be thy rereward.
9Then shalt thou call,and the LORDshall answer;thou shalt cry,and he shall say,Here I [am]. If thou take awayfrom the midstof thee the yoke,the putting forthof the finger,and speakingvanity;
10And [if] thou draw outthy soulto the hungry,and satisfythe afflictedsoul;then shall thy lightrisein obscurity,and thy darkness[be] as the noonday:
11And the LORDshall guidethee continually,and satisfythy soulin drought,and make fatthy bones:and thou shalt be like a wateredgarden,and like a springof water,whose watersfailnot.
12And [they that shall be] of thee shall buildthe oldwaste places:thou shalt raise upthe foundationsof manygenerations;and thou shalt be called,The repairerof the breach,The restorerof pathsto dwell in.
13If thou turn awaythy footfrom the sabbath,[from] doingthy pleasureon my holyday;and callthe sabbatha delight,the holyof the LORD,honourable;and shalt honourhim, not doingthine own ways,nor findingthine own pleasure,nor speaking[thine own] words:
14Then shalt thou delightthyself in the LORD;and I will cause thee to rideupon the high placesof the earth,and feedthee with the heritageof Jacobthy father:for the mouthof the LORDhath spoken[it].
