Yet they [a]seek me daily, and will know my ways, even as a nation that did righteously, and had not forsaken the statutes of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice: they will draw near unto God, saying,

[b]Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest it not? we have punished ourselves, and thou regardest it not. Behold, in the day of your fast you will seek [c]your will, and require all your debts.

Behold, ye fast to strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do today, to make your voice to be [d]heard above.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 58:2 They will seem to worship me and have outward holiness.
  2. Isaiah 58:3 He setteth forth the malice and disdain of the hypocrites, which grudge against God, if their works be not accepted.
  3. Isaiah 58:3 Thus he convinceth the hypocrites by the second table, and by their duty toward their neighbor, that they have neither faith nor religion.
  4. Isaiah 58:4 So long as you use contention and oppression, your fasting and prayers shall not be heard.

For day after day they seek(A) me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken(B) the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
    and seem eager for God to come near(C) them.
‘Why have we fasted,’(D) they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled(E) ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’(F)

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please(G)
    and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,(H)
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard(I) on high.

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