Isaiah 1:10–17; Isaiah 58:1–12; Isaiah 66:1–4

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Isaiah 1:10–17

10  Hear the word of the Lord,

you rulers of pSodom!

Give ear to the teaching1 of our God,

you people of Gomorrah!

11  q“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?

says the Lord;

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of well-fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of bulls,

or of lambs, or of goats.

12  “When you come to rappear before me,

who has required of you

this trampling of my courts?

13  Bring no more vain offerings;

incense is an abomination to me.

New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—

I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

14  Your new moons and your appointed feasts

my soul hates;

they have become a sburden to me;

I am tweary of bearing them.

15  When you uspread out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

even though you make many prayers,

vI will not listen;

your hands are full of blood.

16  wWash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;

cease to do evil,

17  learn to do good;

seek justice,

correct oppression;

bring justice to the xfatherless,

plead the widow’s cause.


Isaiah 58:1–12

True and False Fasting

1  “Cry aloud; do not hold back;

lift up your voice like a trumpet;

ldeclare to my people their transgression,

to the house of Jacob their sins.

2  mYet they seek me daily

and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that did righteousness

and did not forsake the judgment of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments;

they delight to draw near to God.

3  ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?

Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,1

and oppress all your workers.

4  Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to hit with a wicked fist.

Fasting like yours this day

will not make your voice to be heard on high.

5  Is such the fast that I choose,

a day for a person to humble himself?

Is it to bow down his head like a reed,

and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?

Will you call this a fast,

and a day acceptable to the Lord?

6  “Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo the straps of the yoke,

nto let the oppressed2 go free,

and to break every yoke?

7  Is it not to oshare your bread with the hungry

and pbring the homeless poor into your house;

qwhen you see the naked, to cover him,

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

8  rThen shall your light break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up speedily;

your righteousness shall go before you;

sthe glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

9  Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;

you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’

If you take away the yoke from your midst,

the tpointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

10  if you pour yourself out for the hungry

and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,

then shall your light rise in the darkness

and your gloom be as the noonday.

11  And the Lord will guide you continually

and satisfy your desire in scorched places

and make your bones strong;

and you shall be ulike a watered garden,

like a spring of water,

whose waters do not fail.

12  And your vancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

the restorer of streets to dwell in.


Isaiah 66:1–4

The Humble and Contrite in Spirit

1  Thus says the Lord:

z“Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is my footstool;

what is the ahouse that you would build for me,

and what is the place of my rest?

2  All these things my hand has made,

and so all these things came to be,

declares the Lord.

But this is the one to whom I will look:

he who is humble and bcontrite in spirit

and ctrembles at my word.

3  d“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;

he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck;

he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers epig’s blood;

he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.

These have chosen their own ways,

and their soul delights in their abominations;

4  I also will choose harsh treatment for them

and bring their fears upon them,

because fwhen I called, no one answered,

when I spoke, they did not listen;

but they did what was evil in my eyes

and chose that in which I did not delight.”