1 »Cry aloud! Do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram's horn. Tell my people about their rebellion and the descendants of Jacob about their sins.

2 »They seek me day by day. They delight to know my ways like a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask me for justice and delight. They are pleased that God is near.

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 desire, and mistreat all your workers.’

4 »You fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast 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 rush and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Jehovah?

6 »Is this not the fast 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, should you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh?

8 »Your light will break out like the dawn. Your recovery will speedily spring forth. Your righteousness will go before you and the glory of Jehovah will be your rear guard.

9 »‘Then you will call, and Jehovah 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 be like midday.

11 Jehovah will continually guide you. He will satisfy your desire in scorched places and give strength to your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

12 Those among you will rebuild the ancient ruins. You will raise up the age-old foundations. You will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

13 »If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and you call the Sabbath a delight and the holy of Jehovah honorable, and honor it, desisting from your ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word,

14 »you will take delight in Jehovah! I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. I will feed you the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of Jehovah has spoken!«