True Fasts and Sabbaths

¹“Cry aloud, do not hold back!Raise your voice like a ram’s horn.Declare to My people their transgressionand to the house of Jacob their sins.

²For day after day they seek Meand delight to know My ways,like a nation that does what is rightand does not forsake the justice of their God.They ask Me for righteous judgments;they delight in the nearness of God.”

³“Why have we fasted,and You have not seen?Why have we humbled ourselves,and You have not noticed?”“Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please,and you oppress all your workers.

⁴You fast with contention and strifeto strike viciously with your fist.You cannot fast as you do todayand have your voice be heard on high.

⁵Is this the fast I have chosen:a day for a man 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?

⁶Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen:to break the chains of wickedness,to untie the cords of the yoke,to set the oppressed freeand tear off every yoke?

⁷Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry,to bring the poor and homeless into your home,to clothe the naked when you see him,and not to turn awayfrom your own flesh and blood?

⁸Then your light will break forth like the dawn,and your healing will come quickly.Your righteousness will go before you,and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

⁹Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’If you remove the yoke from your midst,the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,

¹⁰and if you give yourself to the hungryand satisfy the afflicted soul,then your light will go forth in the darkness,and your night will be like noonday.

¹¹The LORD will always guide you;He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched landand strengthen your frame.You will be like a well-watered garden,like a spring whose waters never fail.

¹²Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;you will restore the age-old foundations;you will be called Repairer of the Breach,Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.

¹³If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath,from doing as you please on My holy day,if you call the Sabbath a delight,and the LORD’s holy day honorable,if you honor it by not going your own wayor seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,

¹⁴then you will delight yourself in the LORD,and I will make you ride on the heights of the landand feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.”For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Zophar Rebukes Job

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

²“Should this stream of words go unansweredand such a speaker be vindicated?

³Should your babbling put others to silence?Will you scoff without rebuke?

⁴You have said, ‘My doctrine is sound,and I am pure in Your sight.’

⁵But if only God would speakand open His lips against you,

⁶and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom,for true wisdom has two sides.Know then that God exacts from youless than your iniquity deserves.

⁷Can you fathom the deep things of Godor discover the limits of the Almighty?

⁸They are higher than the heavens—what can you do?They are deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

⁹Their measure is longer than the earthand wider than the sea.

¹⁰If He comes along to imprison you,or convenes a court, who can stop Him?

¹¹Surely He knows the deceit of men.If He sees iniquity, does He not take note?

¹²But a witless man can no more become wisethan the colt of a wild donkey can be born a man!

¹³As for you, if you direct your heartand lift up your hands to Him,

¹⁴if you put away the iniquity in your hand,and allow no injustice to dwell in your tents,

¹⁵then indeed you will lift up your face without blemish;you will stand firm and unafraid.

¹⁶For you will forget your misery,recalling it only as waters gone by.

¹⁷Your life will be brighter than noonday;its darkness will be like the morning.

¹⁸You will be secure, because there is hope,and you will look around and lie down in safety.

¹⁹You will lie down without fear,and many will court your favor.

²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail,and escape will elude them;they will hope for their last breath.”

The Year of the LORD’s Favor

¹The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me,because the LORD has anointed Meto preach good news to the poor.He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted,to proclaim liberty to the captivesand freedom to the prisoners,

²to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favorand the day of our God’s vengeance,to comfort all who mourn,

³to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes,the oil of joy for mourning,and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair.So they will be called oaks of righteousness,the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

⁴They will rebuild the ancient ruins;they will restore the places long devastated;they will renew the ruined cities,the desolations of many generations.

⁵Strangers will stand and feed your flocks,and foreigners will be your plowmen and vinedressers.

⁶But you will be called the priests of the LORD;they will speak of you as ministers of our God;you will feed on the wealth of nations,and you will boast in their riches.

⁷Instead of shame, My people will have a double portion,and instead of humiliation, they will rejoice in their share;and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,and everlasting joy will be theirs.

⁸For I, the LORD, love justice;I hate robbery and iniquity;in My faithfulness I will give them their recompenseand make an everlasting covenant with them.

⁹Their descendants will be known among the nations,and their offspring among the peoples.All who see them will acknowledgethat they are a people the LORD has blessed.

¹⁰I will rejoice greatly in the LORD,my soul will exult in my God;for He has clothed me with garments of salvationand wrapped me in a robe of righteousness,as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress,as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹¹For as the earth brings forth its growth,and as a garden enables seed to spring up,so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praiseto spring up before all the nations.

The Blessed Fear of the LORD

¹Hallelujah!Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,who greatly delights in His commandments.

²His descendants will be mighty in the land;the generation of the upright will be blessed.

³Wealth and riches are in his house,and his righteousness endures forever.

⁴Light dawns in the darkness for the upright—for the gracious, compassionate, and righteous.

⁵It is well with the man who is generous and lends freely,whose affairs are guided by justice.

⁶Surely he will never be shaken;the righteous man will be remembered forever.

⁷He does not fear bad news;his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

⁸His heart is assured; he does not fear,until he looks in triumph on his foes.

⁹He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;his righteousness endures forever;his horn will be lifted high in honor.

¹⁰The wicked man will see and be grieved;he will gnash his teeth and waste away;the desires of the wicked will perish.