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.

Yet they seek Me day by day And take delight in knowing My ways, Like a nation that has done righteousness And has not forsaken the judgment of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; They take delight in approaching God.

Why have we fasted, and yet You do not see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and yet You do not acknowledge? Indeed, on the day of your fast you find delight, And oppress all your laborers.

Indeed, you fast for contention and strife, And to strike with a fist of wickedness; You do not fast, in the way you do today, To make your voice heard on high.

Is such the fast that I choose, The day when a man afflicts his soul? Is it for bowing his head like a rush And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as his bed? Will you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to Jehovah?

Is this not the fast that I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And to break every yoke?

Is it not to divide your bread to the hungry, And to bring the wandering poor home; When you see the naked, to cover him, And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth. And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of Jehovah will guard you from behind.

Then you will call, and Jehovah will answer; You will cry out, and He will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger and the speaking of wickedness,

And if you draw out your soul to the hungry And satisfy the desires of the afflicted; Then your light will rise in the darkness, And your gloom will be like midday;

And Jehovah will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in the dry times, And strengthen your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, Whose waters do not deceive.

And those who are of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the foundations of generation upon generation; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the paths in which to dwell.

If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, From doing whatever you please on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, That which is holy to Jehovah honorable, And honor it, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure and speaking idle words;

Then you will have delight in Jehovah; And I will cause you to ride upon the heights of the earth, And I will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father; For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.