1. “Cry out loudly, don’t hold back!Raise your voice like a trumpet.Tell My people their transgressionand the house of Jacob their sins.
2. They seek Me day after dayand delight to know My ways,like a nation that does what is rightand does not abandon the justice of their God.They ask Me for righteous judgments;they delight in the nearness of God.”
3. “Why have we fasted, but You have not seen? We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed! ” “Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast,and oppress all your workers.
4. You fast with contention and strifeto strike viciously with your fist.You cannot fast as you do today,hoping to make your voice heard on high.
5. Will the fast I choose be like this:A day for a person to deny himself,to bow his head like a reed,and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fastand a day acceptable to the Lord?
6. Isn’t the fast I choose:To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke,to set the oppressed free,and to tear off every yoke?