1The prophet, being sent to reprove hypocrisy, sheweth the difference between a counterfeit fast and a true: 8he declareth what blessings shall attend a godly performance of the duties of the latter, 13and the observance of the sabbath.
1aCRY b1aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
1Heb. with the throat.
a ch. 40.3. b Re. 14.9. Eze. 3.17,21; 16.2; 22.2; 20.4. Ac. 20.27. Col. 1.28.
2Yet cthey seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
c De. 5.28,29. ch. 1.11-15; 29.13; 48.1,2. Eze. 33.30,31. Mat. 13.20. Mar. 6.20. Jn. 5.35. He. 6.4,5. Tit. 1.16. 2Ti. 3.5. Re. 3.1,2.
3¶dWherefore have we fasted, say they , and thou seest not? wherefore have we eafflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast fye find pleasure, and gexact all your 2labours.
2Or, things wherewith ye grieve others.
d Zec. 7.1,5. Mal. 3.14. Lu. 18.9-11. e Le. 16.29; 23.27. f ch. 22.12,13. Ja. 5.5. g ch. 60.17.
4Behold, hye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: 3ye shall not fast as ye do this day, ito make your voice to be heard on high.
3Or, ye fast not as this day.
h Mat. 23.14; 5.25; 6.14,15. Lu. 20.47. 1Ki. 21.9-13. i Not Mat. 6.5, but Joel 2.13,14. Jonah 3.8. Mat. 6.7.
5Is it jsuch a fast that I have chosen? 4a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him ? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
4Or, to afflict his soul for a day.
j Zec. 7.5. Le. 16.29. Mat. 6.16. 1Ki. 21.27,29. Es. 4.3. Job 2.8. Da. 9.3. Jonah 3.8.
6Is not this the fast that I have chosen? kto loose the bands of wickedness, to undo 5the heavy burdens, and lto let the 6oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
5Heb. the bundles of the yoke.
6Heb. broken.
k Jonah 3.5-10. Mi. 6.10-12; 2.2; 3.1-11. Ne. 5.10-12. Je. 34.8,9. Mat. 23.4. Ac. 15.28. Ga. 5.1. 1Co. 7.23. l Lu. 4.18.
7Is it not mto deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are 7cast out nto thy house? when thou seest the naked, that othou cover him; and that thou phide not thyself from thine own flesh?
7Or, afflicted.
m Ps. 112.9. Ec. 11.1. Ro. 12.13,20. Eze. 18.7. Da. 4.27. Lu. 3.11; 19.8. Ac. 28.2. Ec. 11.1. Mat. 25.35. v.10. n Job 31.32. Mat. 25.35. Ro. 12.13. He. 11.37; 13.2. Ge. 18.3-5; 19.2,3. Ju. 19.21,22. Ac. 16.34. ch. 16.4. o Mat. 25.36. Job 31.19,20. p Pr. 24.11,12; 28.27. Lu. 10.33-35. Ju. 9.2. 1Ti. 5.1. Ne. 5.5. 1Jn. 3.17.
8¶Then shall qthy light break forth as the morning, and rthine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy srighteousness shall go before thee; tthe glory of the LORD 8shall be thy rereward.
8Heb. shall gather thee up.
q v.10,11. Es. 8.16. Ps. 37.6; 77.11; 112.4. Job 11.17. r v.11. Je. 8.22; 30.17; 33.6. s ch. 1.27; 3.10; 61.3. Ps. 37.6. t Ex. 14.19. ch. 52.12. De. 33.26-29.
9uThen shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee vthe yoke, wthe putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
u ch. 30.19; 65.24. Ps. 34.15,17; 91.15; 37.4; 118.5; 50.15. Mat. 7.7,11. v v.6,7. w Pr. 6.13. 2Th. 3.11. Ps. 12.2. ch. 59.3,4. Ps. 125.3. Mat. 5.22.
10And if xthou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then yshall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
x De. 15.7-10. 2Co. 8.5-12; 9.7. Ps. 112.5. v.7. y ch. 29.18. v.8. Ps. 112.4. ch. 30.26; 60.1,19,20. Ju. 5.31.
11And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and zsatisfy thy soul in 9drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be alike a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters 10fail not.
9Heb. droughts.
10Heb. lie or deceive not.
z Job 5.20. Ps. 33.19; 34.9,10; 36.9,10; 65.4,5; 37.19. Pr. 3.8. Je. 31.12,14. Eze. 34.14. Ps. 51.9. Job 21.24. a Ge. 2.10. Je. 17.8. Ps. 1.3. ch. 30.24,25; 35.6,7; 41.18; 44.3,4; 33.21; 49.10. Jn. 4.14; 7.38,39.
12And they that shall be of thee bshall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
b ch. 61.4; 49.8. Je. 30.3,18; 31.23-28,38; 32.37; 33.7-13. Eze. 36.8-11. Zec. 2.4; 8.7-15; 10.6-10. Ac. 2-20. Mat. 17.11. ch. 19.23; 35.8. Je. 6.16. Ne. 4.6,17-21.
13¶cIf thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath da delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
c Ex. 20.8,9; 31.14; 16.23; 35.2,3. Ne. 10.31; 13.15-22. Je. 17.21-23. ch. 56.2,4,6. Am. 8.5. Pr. 4.26,27. d Ps. 84.2,10; 27.4; 42.4. Re. 1.10. He. 4.4. ch. 66.23.
14Then eshalt thou fdelight thyself in the LORD; and I will gcause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with hthe heritage of Jacob thy father: for ithe mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
e ch. 57.4. (Heb.) f Hab. 3.18. Lu. 1.47. Job 22.26. ch. 25.6; 55.2; 66.11. Je. 31.14. Ps. 34.8; 66.11; 36.8; 37.11. g De. 32.13. h Ps. 105.9-11; 16.5,6; 135.12. Je. 3.19. Ge. 27.29; 28.14. Mat. 8.11. ch. 3.10; 33.16; 55.2; 65.13; 1.19. i ch. 1.20. Nu. 23.19. 1Sa. 15.29. Tit. 1.2. He. 6.18.