Major Prophets · Chapter 58 of 66

Isaiah 58

God exposes the emptiness of Israel's fasting, which coexists with oppression and strife. He describes the fast He truly chooses: loosing bonds of wickedness, freeing the oppressed, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless. Such worship makes light break forth like the dawn and God answers when they call. He calls them repairers of the breach and promises delight in the LORD to those who honor the Sabbath and turn from their own pleasure.

What happens in Isaiah 58

God tells the prophet to cry aloud like a trumpet and confront His people with their sin. They seek Him daily and delight to know His ways, yet complain that their fasting goes unnoticed. God answers that their fast serves their own pleasure and ends in strife, so it cannot make their voice heard on high. He then unfolds the fast He actually chooses: to loose the bonds of wickedness, free the oppressed, break every yoke, share bread with the hungry, house the homeless poor, and clothe the naked.

When they do this, their light will break forth like the morning and the glory of the LORD will guard their rear. Then when they call, God will answer, Here I am, and they will become like a watered garden and be called repairers of the breach. Finally, if they honor the Sabbath and delight in the LORD, He will feed them with the heritage of Jacob.

Isaiah 58 in context

Set in Isaiah's final section addressing the restored community, this chapter confronts a religion that is diligent in ritual yet indifferent to justice. The people fast and complain that God ignores them, revealing worship disconnected from how they treat the vulnerable. Fasting was a sign of humility and mourning, but here it has become self-serving performance.

The chapter reflects the prophets' consistent insistence that God desires mercy and justice over empty ceremony, and it links true worship, care for the needy, and Sabbath delight.

Main themes of Isaiah 58

Isaiah 58 (KJV)

1Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 2Yet they 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. 3Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 4Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a 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? 6Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? 8Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. 9Then 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 the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 10And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day: 11And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 12And they that shall be of thee shall 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. 13If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a 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: 14Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Verses to carry from Isaiah 58

“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”Isaiah 58:6

“Then 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 the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;”Isaiah 58:9

“And they that shall be of thee shall 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.”Isaiah 58:12

Reflection

It is possible to be religiously busy and spiritually deaf, fasting while ignoring the hungry at the door. Ask what God actually asks of you: to loose a burden, free the oppressed, share your bread. He promises that this kind of self-giving is where your own light breaks forth like the dawn.

A prayer from Isaiah 58