Isaiah 58:6–9
The fast God chooses: loosing chains, sharing bread and clothing the naked
Study it word by word6Is this not the fast that I choose: to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, and to set free the crushed, and that you break every yoke?
7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and to bring the wandering afflicted home; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?
8Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will sprout quickly; and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of YHWH will gather you.
9Then you will call, and YHWH will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove from your midst the yoke, the pointing of the finger and the speaking of wickedness,
In its context
4Look, for strife and contention you fast, and to strike with a fist of wickedness; do not fast as you do today to make your voice heard on high.
5Will the fast that I choose be like this: a day for a human being to humble his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day of favor to YHWH?
…
10and if you offer your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your gloom will be like noon.
11And YHWH will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in scorched places, and your bones he will strengthen; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not deceive.
Its words in the original
- צוֹםtsom· fast
Fast: going without food for a time, as a sign of mourning, of sorrow for sin, or of pleading with God.
- אֶבְחָרֵevchare· choose
Choose, select.
- פַּתֵּחַpateach· open, engrave
Open; loosen, set free. In another form, engrave (cut lines in stone or metal).
- חַרְצֻבּוֹתchartsubot· bond; pang
A bond, a fetter; figuratively, pain or torment. A rare word.
- רֶשַׁעresha· wickedness
Wickedness: what is unjust and evil.
- הַתֵּרhater· leap
Jump, leap; also shake off, set free.
- אֲגֻדּוֹתagudot· bunch; band; vault
Bunch, bundle. In other passages, a band of men (2 Samuel 2:25), the bands of a yoke (Isaiah 58:6), or the vault of the heavens (Amos 9:6).
- מוֹטָהmota· yoke bar
A bar or pole of wood of the yoke, set on the animal's neck; also a yoke.
- שַׁלַּחshalach· send, stretch out
Send; stretch out (the hand); let go, send away, set free.
- רְצוּצִיםretsutsim· crush; struggle
Crush, oppress, break in pieces; of twins in the womb, struggle and push against each other.
- חָפְשִׁיםchafshim· free
Free: no longer a slave; also free from duties.
- תְּנַתֵּקוּtenateku· tear off, break
Tear off, break by pulling.
- פָרֹסfaros· divide, split (the hoof)
Divide, break (bread); said of an animal, have a split hoof.
- רָעֵבraev· hungry
Hungry, suffering hunger.
- לַחְמֶlachme· bread, food
Bread; in a wide sense, food.
- עֲנִיִּיםaniyim· poor, afflicted
Poor, afflicted: one who suffers need and has no one to defend him; also humble.
- מְרוּדִיםmerudim· homeless, wandering
One who wanders with nowhere to live; also the state of homelessness and want.
- תָּבִיאtavi· come, go in, bring
Come, arrive, go in, enter. In the causative form, "bring" or "carry in". "Go in to" a woman is to have marital relations with her.
- בָיִתvayit· house, household
House. Also the family that lives in it ("the house of Noah") and someone's descendants ("the house of David"); also a temple, "the house of God".
- תִרְאֶהtire· see
See. Also look, observe, notice, consider; in some forms, "appear" or "show".
- עָרֹםarom· naked
Naked.
- כִסִּיתchisit· cover
Cover, hide; also cover over (sin), conceal.
- בְּשָׂרְbesar· flesh
Flesh: the body, and the person as weak and mortal. "One flesh" is the union of husband and wife; "my flesh" can mean "my family". "All flesh" is every living being. In the Old Testament it does not mean something bad in itself.
- תִתְעַלָּםtitalam· hide, be hidden
Be hidden, escape notice; hide, conceal.
- יִבָּקַעyibaka· split, break open
Split, cleave, break open; tear apart. Said of splitting wood, dividing the sea, springs bursting out, and cities being breached.
- שַּׁחַרshachar· dawn
Dawn, daybreak.
- אוֹרֶore· light
Light: daylight, the light of a lamp or of the heavenly bodies. Figuratively, life, joy or well-being.
- אֲרֻכָתְaruchat· healing, restoration
Restoration, healing: the new flesh that closes a wound. Said also of a wall or a work being repaired.
- מְהֵרָהmehera· haste, quickly
Haste; as an adverb, "quickly."
- תִצְמָחtitsmach· sprout
Sprout, spring up; begin to grow.
- הָלַךְhalach· go, walk
Go, walk, come. Figuratively, the way one lives ("walk with God").
- פָנֶיfane· face, presence
Face. From there "surface" (the face of something) and "presence" (being before someone's face); with a preposition it means "before" or "in front of".
- צִדְקֶtsidke· righteousness, what is right
Righteousness: what is right, what is as it should be; just (weights, judgment).
- כְּבוֹדkevod· glory, honor
Weight, importance; from there glory, honor, splendor. Sometimes wealth: what makes someone "weigh".
- יְהוָהyehva· YHWH
The personal name of the God of Israel, written in Hebrew with four letters, Y-H-W-H, without vowels. Out of reverence Jews stopped pronouncing it and read "Adonai" (Lord), so many Bibles put "the LORD" or "Jehovah". This translation keeps the four letters. The name is related to the verb "to be" (Exodus 3:14-15). He is not a god other than Elohim: "YHWH Elohim" is the same Creator God, called by his name.
- יַאַסְפֶyaasfe· gather
Gather, bring together; store up; take away. "Be gathered to one's people" is to die.
- תִּקְרָאtikra· call, proclaim
Call: speak out to someone, summon, invite, give a name, proclaim; also read aloud. "Call on the name of YHWH" is to pray to him and worship him.
- יַעֲנֶהyaane· answer
Answer, reply; also speak up, testify, or sing in response.
- תְּשַׁוַּעteshava· cry for help
To cry out for help, to call aloud to be rescued.
- יֹאמַרyomar· say
Say, speak. The most common verb for bringing in what someone says; sometimes "think" (say to oneself) or "command".
- תָּסִירtasir· turn aside, remove
Turn aside, turn away; remove, take away.
- תּוֹכְtoch· midst
The middle, the center of something; "in the midst of", "among".
- אֶצְבַּעetsba· finger
Finger; also toe.
- דַבֶּרdaber· speak
Speak, talk, say; also promise or command.
- אָוֶןaven· wickedness, trouble
Wickedness, trouble: what is empty and comes to nothing; also the evil and the affliction it brings.