Isaiah 58-59 - NASB Online

ISAIAH 58-59

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Observances of Fasts

58:1 “Cry loudly, do not hold back;

Raise your voice like a trumpet,

And declare to My people their transgression

And to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 “Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,

As a nation that has done righteousness

And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.

They ask Me for just decisions,

They delight in the nearness of God.

3 ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?

Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’

Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,

And drive hard all your workers.

4 “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist.

You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.

5 “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?

Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed

And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?

Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?

6 “Is this not the fast which I choose,

To loosen the bonds of wickedness,

To undo the bands of the yoke,

And to let the oppressed go free

And break every yoke?

7 “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry

And bring the homeless poor into the house;

When you see the naked, to cover him;

And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

8 “Then your light will break out like the dawn,

And your recovery will speedily spring forth;

And your righteousness will go before you;

The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 “Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;

You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

If you remove the yoke from your midst,

The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,

10 And if you give yourself to the hungry

And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,

Then your light will rise in darkness

And your gloom will become like midday.

11 “And the LORD will continually guide you,

And satisfy your desire in scorched places,

And give strength to your bones;

And you will be like a watered garden,

And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

12 “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;

You will raise up the age-old foundations;

And you will be called the repairer of the breach,

The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

Keeping the Sabbath

13 “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot

From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,

And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable,

And honor it, desisting from your own ways,

From seeking your own pleasure

And speaking your own word,

14 Then you will take delight in the LORD,

And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;

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

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Separation from God

59:1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short

That it cannot save;

Nor is His ear so dull

That it cannot hear.

2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,

And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood

And your fingers with iniquity;

Your lips have spoken falsehood,

Your tongue mutters wickedness.

4 No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly.

They trust in confusion and speak lies;

They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.

5 They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;

He who eats of their eggs dies,

And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth.

6 Their webs will not become clothing,

Nor will they cover themselves with their works;

Their works are works of iniquity,

And an act of violence is in their hands.

7 Their feet run to evil,

And they hasten to shed innocent blood;

Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,

Devastation and destruction are in their highways.

8 They do not know the way of peace,

And there is no justice in their tracks;

They have made their paths crooked,

Whoever treads on them does not know peace.

A Confession of Wickedness

9 Therefore justice is far from us,

And righteousness does not overtake us;

We hope for light, but behold, darkness,

For brightness, but we walk in gloom.

10 We grope along the wall like blind men,

We grope like those who have no eyes;

We stumble at midday as in the twilight,

Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men.

11 All of us growl like bears,

And moan sadly like doves;

We hope for justice, but there is none,

For salvation, but it is far from us.

12 For our transgressions are multiplied before You,

And our sins testify against us;

For our transgressions are with us,

And we know our iniquities:

13 Transgressing and denying the LORD,

And turning away from our God,

Speaking oppression and revolt,

Conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words.

14 Justice is turned back,

And righteousness stands far away;

For truth has stumbled in the street,

And uprightness cannot enter.

15 Yes, truth is lacking;

And he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey.

Now the LORD saw,

And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.

16 And He saw that there was no man,

And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;

Then His own arm brought salvation to Him,

And His righteousness upheld Him.

17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate,

And a helmet of salvation on His head;

And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing

And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.

18 According to their deeds, so He will repay,

Wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies;

To the coastlands He will make recompense.

19 So they will fear the name of the LORD from the west

And His glory from the rising of the sun,

For He will come like a rushing stream

Which the wind of the LORD drives.

20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion,

And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the LORD.

21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”

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