1 ARST Yahweh said to me,“Shout loudly! Shout like a loud trumpet! Shout to warn my Israelite people about their sins! BSB BSB: “Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 ARST They worship me every day; they come to my temple because they say that they are eager to know what I want them to do. They act as though they were a nation that does things that are righteous, that would never abandon the commands of me, their God. They request me to decide matters justly, and they are eager that I should come to them. BSB BSB: For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”
3 ARST They say,‘We have fasted to please you, but you did not notice our doing that. We humbled ourselves, but you did not pay any attention!’ I will tell you why I did not pay attention. It is because when you fast, you do it only to please yourselves, and you act cruelly toward all your workers. BSB BSB: “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.
4 ARST You fast, but you also quarrel and fight with each other with your fists. Doing things like that while you fast will certainly not cause me to hear your prayers where I am, high in heaven. BSB BSB: You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.
5 ARST You bow your heads like the tops of reeds bend when the wind blows, and you wear rough clothes and cover your heads with ashes like people do when they are grieving. That is what you do when you are fasting, but do you really think that will please me? BSB BSB: Is 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 fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?
6 ARST No, that is not the kind of fasting that I desire. Instead you should seek to free those who have been unjustly put in prison, and encourage those who are treated cruelly; and free those who have been oppressed in any way. BSB BSB: Isn’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 free and tear off every yoke?
7 ARST Share your food with those who are hungry and to allow those who have no houses to stay in your houses. Give clothes to those who do not have clothes, and do not hide yourself from your relatives who need help from you. BSB BSB: Isn’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 away from your own flesh and blood?
8 ARST If you do those things, what you do for others will be like a light that shines when it dawns. The troubles that have been caused by your sins will end quickly. Others will know about your righteous behavior, and the glorious presence of Yahweh will protect you from behind like I protected the Israelite people when they left Egypt. BSB BSB: Then 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.
9 ARST Then you will call out to me, and I will quickly answer and say,‘I am here to help you.’ Stop oppressing people; stop falsely accusing people; and stop saying evil things about people. BSB BSB: Then 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,
10 ARST Give food to those who are hungry, and give to people who are afflicted the things that they need. Your doing that will be like a light that shines in the darkness; instead of doing evil to people, the good things you do for people will be like the sunshine at noontime. BSB BSB: and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will go forth in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.
11 ARST Yahweh will guide you continually, and he will give you good things to satisfy you. He will enable you to remain strong and healthy. You will be like a garden that is well watered, like a spring that never dries up. BSB BSB: The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 ARST Your people will rebuild the cities that were destroyed long ago; they will build houses on top of the old foundations. People will say that you are the ones who are repairing the holes in the city walls, and who are repairing the streets where people live. BSB BSB: Your 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.
13 ARST Do not travel on the Sabbath days, and on Sabbath days do not do only the things that you delight to do. Enjoy the Sabbath days, and consider them to be delightful. The Sabbath days are my holy days. Honor me, Yahweh, in everything that you do on the Sabbath days. Do not talk about and do things to please yourselves. If you do all the things that I have just now told you to do; listen, and I will tell you what I will do for you. BSB BSB: If 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 way or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,
14 ARST I will enable you to be joyful. I will greatly honor you; it will be as though you were riding with me above the highest mountains! I will give to you the blessings that I gave to your ancestor Jacob. Those things will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.” BSB BSB: then you will delight yourself in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
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