Isaiah 58:5-7

58:5 Is this really the kind of fasting I want? ¹ 

Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, ² 

bowing their heads like a reed

and stretching out ³  on sackcloth and ashes?

Is this really what you call a fast,

a day that is pleasing to the Lord?

58:6 No, this is the kind of fast I want. ⁴ 

I want you ⁵  to remove the sinful chains,

to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke,

to set free the oppressed, ⁶ 

and to break every burdensome yoke.

58:7 I want you ⁷  to share your food with the hungry

and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. ⁸ 

When you see someone naked, clothe him!

Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood! ⁹ 

Isaiah 58:10-12

58:10 You must ¹⁰  actively help the hungry

and feed the oppressed. ¹¹ 

Then your light will dispel the darkness, ¹² 

and your darkness will be transformed into noonday. ¹³ 

58:11 The Lord will continually lead you;

he will feed you even in parched regions. ¹⁴ 

He will give you renewed strength, ¹⁵ 

and you will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring that continually produces water.

58:12 Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; ¹⁶ 

you will reestablish the ancient foundations.

You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls,

the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ ¹⁷ 

[58:5]  ¹ tn Heb “choose” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB “wish.”

[58:5]  ² tn Heb “a day when man humbles himself.” The words “Do I want” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[58:5]  ³ tn Or “making [their] bed.”

[58:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “Is this not a fast I choose?” “No” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[58:6]  ⁵ tn The words “I want you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[58:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “crushed.”

[58:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “Is it not?” The rhetorical question here expects a positive answer, “It is!”

[58:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “and afflicted [ones], homeless [ones] you should bring [into] a house.” On the meaning of מְרוּדִים (mÿrudim, “homeless”) see HALOT 633 s.v. *מָרוּד.

[58:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “and from your flesh do not hide yourself.”

[58:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “if you.” See the note on “you must” in v. 9b.

[58:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “If you furnish for the hungry [with] your being, and the appetite of the oppressed you satisfy.”

[58:10]  ¹² tn Heb “will rise in the darkness.”

[58:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “and your darkness [will be] like noonday.”

[58:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he will satisfy in parched regions your appetite.”

[58:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and your bones he will strengthen.”

[58:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and they will build from you ancient ruins.”

[58:12]  ¹⁷ tc The Hebrew text has “the one who restores paths for dwelling.” The idea of “paths to dwell in” is not a common notion. Some have proposed emending נְתִיבוֹת (nÿtivot, “paths”) to נְתִיצוֹת (nÿtitsot, “ruins”), a passive participle from נָתַץ (natats, “tear down”; see HALOT 732 s.v. *נְתִיצָה), because tighter parallelism with the preceding line is achieved. However, none of the textual sources support this emendation. The line may mean that paths must be repaired in order to dwell in the land.