1  Praise the Lord!

Praise the name of the Lord,

^xgive praise, O servants of the Lord,

2  ^ywho stand in the house of the Lord,

in the courts of the house of our God!

3  Praise the Lord, ^zfor the Lord is good;

^asing to his name, ^bfor it is pleasant!¹

4  For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,

Israel as ^chis own possession.

5  For I know that ^dthe Lord is great,

and that our Lord is ^eabove all gods.

6  ^fWhatever the Lord pleases, he does,

in heaven and on earth,

in the seas and all deeps.

7  He it is who ^gmakes the clouds rise at the end of the earth,

who makes lightnings for the rain

and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

8  ^hHe it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,

both of man and of beast;

9  who in your midst, O Egypt,

sent ⁱsigns and wonders

against Pharaoh and all his servants;

10  ^jwho struck down many nations

and killed mighty kings,

11  ^kSihon, king of the Amorites,

and ^lOg, king of Bashan,

and ^mall the kingdoms of Canaan,

12  and gave their land as a heritage,

a heritage to his people Israel.

13  ⁿYour name, O Lord, endures forever,

your renown,² O Lord, throughout all ages.

14  For ^othe Lord will vindicate his people

and have compassion on his servants.

15  ^pThe idols of the nations are silver and gold,

the work of human hands.

16  ^qThey have mouths, but do not speak;

they have eyes, but do not see;

17  they have ears, but do not hear,

^rnor is there any breath in their mouths.

18  ^sThose who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them.

19  O house of Israel, bless the Lord!

O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!

20  O house of Levi, bless the Lord!

You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!

21  Blessed be the Lord from Zion,

he who dwells in Jerusalem!

Praise the Lord!

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.

13  “If you turn back your foot from the ^wSabbath,

from doing your pleasure³ on my holy day,

and call the Sabbath a delight

and the holy day of the Lord honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

or seeking your own pleasure,⁴ or talking idly;⁵

14  then you shall take delight in the Lord,

and I will ^xmake you ride on the heights of the earth;⁶

I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,

^yfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”