Going Through the Motions of Fasting |
Isaiah 58:1-14 The Book of Isaiah [in Smaller Chunks] |
Cry [out loudly & don't hold back.] Lift up your voice like a trumpet & [declare] their transgressions to My people & their sins to the house of Jacob, [a.k.a. Israel.] [Still,] they seek Me daily & delight to know My ways, [like] a [righteous] nation & [didn't abandon] the [rules] of their God. |
They ask Me the [rules] of justice & they take [joy] in [coming closer] to God. They [ask, Why] have we fasted & You [don't] see? [Why] have we afflicted our [souls] & You [don't know?] [Look, on] the day of your fast, you find pleasure & [insist] on [doing] all your labors. |
[Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. You shall labor 6 days & do all your work: but the 7th day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work [on] it: you, your son, your daughter, your [male servant,] your [female servant,] your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates. |
For in 6 days, the Lord made heaven & earth, the sea & and all that is in them & rested the 7th day. [For this reason,] the Lord blessed the Sabbath day & hallowed it.] |
[Look,] you fast for [arguments] & debate & to [wickedly strike] with the fist. You shall not fast [like] you do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. [1 Kings 21:11-15 And the men of his city, even the elders & the nobles who were the [residents] in his city, did [like] Jezebel had written in the letters [that] she had sent to them. |
They proclaimed a fast & [put] Naboth on high among the people. And there came in 2 [wicked] men & sat [in front of Naboth] & the [wicked] men witnessed against him, even Naboth, in the presence of the people saying, Naboth [blasphemed] God & the king. Then, they carried him out of the city & stoned him with [rocks, so] that he died. |
Then, they sent to Jezebel, saying Naboth is stoned & is dead. And it [happened,] when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned & was dead, that Jezebel said to [king] Ahab, Arise, & take possession of vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, [that] he refused to give you for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead.] |
Is it a fast [like this] that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head [like] a [reed] [bends over] & to spread sackcloth & ashes under him? Will you call this a fast & an acceptable day to the Lord? |
Isn't this the fast that I have chosen? To [loosen] the [bonds] of wickedness, to [lighten] the heavy burdens & to let the oppressed go free, [so] that you break every yoke [of oppression?] |
Isn't it to [distribute] your bread to the hungry & [so] that you bring the poor, [who] are cast out [into] your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him & that you [don't] hide yourself from your own [people?] |
[Ezekiel 18:7-9 And [he] hasn't oppressed any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge & hasn't spoiled [any] by violence & has given his bread to the hungry & has covered the naked with a garment. |
He that hasn't given [loans with excessive interest,] neither has taken any [excessive profit] & has withdrawn his hand from [sin] & has [delivered] true judgment between [2 men] & has [followed] in My [mandates] & has kept My judgments, to [behave honestly.] He is just & he shall surely live, says the Lord God.] |
Then, shall your light break [out like] the morning & your health shall speedily [sprout up] & your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your [rear guard.] Then, you shall call & the Lord shall answer. You shall cry [out] & He shall say, Here I Am. |
If you take the yoke away from the midst of you, the [pointing] finger & speaking [what is] vanity & if you [pull] out your [hand] to [give to] the hungry & satisfy the afflicted soul; then, your light shall rise in [the fogginess] & your darkness shall be [like noon.] |
And the Lord shall guide you continually & satisfy your soul in drought & make your bones [plump] & you shall be like a watered garden & like a spring of water, whose waters [never fails.] |
And [your descendants] shall [rebuild] the old waste [lands] & you shall raise up the foundations [for] many generations. And you shall be called, The Repairer of the [Fractures] & The Restorer of the [Streets] to dwell in. |
If your foot [turns] away from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My Holy Day & [again] [calls] the Sabbath;]: a delight & the Holy of the Lord: honorable & shall honor Him, not doing your own [things] & [not looking to find] your own pleasure & not speaking your own words, [but instead speak the Words of the Lord:] |
Then, you shall delight yourself in the Lord & I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth & [will] feed you with the [rest of the] heritage of Jacob, [a.k.a. Israel,] your [forefather.] For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. |
[Deuteronomy 32: 12-13 So, the Lord alone [led] him & there was no strange god with Him. He made [Jacob] ride on the high places of the earth, [so] that he might eat the increase of the fields & He made him suck honey out of the rock & oil out of the flinty rock.] |