Isaiah / Chapter 58

Isaiah 58

14 verses • Westminster Leningrad Codex 1 tradition available

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

Isaiah 58 is one of the most socially explosive chapters in the prophetic canon. The people fast and wonder why God does not notice. God answers: their fasting is a performance of piety while they exploit their workers and quarrel with fists. The true fast God chooses is justice — loosing bonds of wickedness, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, clothing the naked. When worship becomes justice, then 'your light shall break forth like the dawn.' The chapter closes with a call to Sabbath delight that reframes rest as joy rather than obligation.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

Verses 6-7 constitute one of the most direct statements of social ethics in the Hebrew Bible: the fast God desires is not abstaining from food but abstaining from injustice. Jesus echoes this priority in Matthew 25:35-36 ('I was hungry and you gave Me food'). Verse 8's 'your light shall break forth like the dawn' becomes a controlling image for the entire final section of Isaiah.

Translation Friction

The tension between ritual and ethics is not either/or — Isaiah does not abolish fasting but redefines it. We have rendered the passage to preserve this nuance: God does not reject worship but refuses worship severed from justice.

Connections

Verses 6-7 anticipate Jesus' parable of the sheep and goats (Matt 25:31-46). The 'light breaking forth' (v.8) connects to Isaiah 60:1 and John 1:5. The Sabbath theology of vv.13-14 anticipates Jesus' Sabbath controversies (Mark 2:27-28). James 1:27 echoes this chapter's definition of true religion. **Tradition comparisons:** The Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaiah-a) preserve this chapter with notable variants: Verse 8 has a moderate variant in the word for 'healing' (arukah). Verse 11 shows a plene spelling difference in the description of the well-watered garden. The theologically central verses on true fasting (vv. 6-7) are remarkably stable.. See the [DSS Isaiah comparison](/dss-isaiah/58).

Isaiah 58:1

קְרָא בְגָרוֹן אַל־תַּחְשֹׂךְ כַּשּׁוֹפָר הָרֵם קוֹלֶךָ וְהַגֵּד לְעַמִּי פִּשְׁעָם וּלְבֵית יַעֲקֹב חַטֹּאתָם

Cry aloud — do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a shofar! Declare to My people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.

KJV Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. 'Shofar' is retained rather than 'trumpet' — the ram's horn carries covenantal and liturgical weight that 'trumpet' flattens.
1 tradition available

Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaᵃ, 125 BCE)minor

"Cry out with full throat"

No meaningful variant. The scroll preserves the same command: 'Cry out with full throat, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a shofar!' The consonantal text is identical.

Isaiah 58:2

וְאוֹתִי יוֹם יוֹם יִדְרֹשׁוּן וְדַעַת דְּרָכַי יֶחְפָּצוּן כְּגוֹי אֲשֶׁר־צְדָקָה עָשָׂה וּמִשְׁפַּט אֱלֹהָיו לֹא עָזָב יִשְׁאָלוּנִי מִשְׁפְּטֵי־צֶדֶק קִרְבַת אֱלֹהִים יֶחְפָּצוּן

Yet day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and had not forsaken the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in drawing near to God.

KJV Yet 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.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The 'as if' (ke-goi asher) is devastating — they perform the posture of faithfulness while living in contradiction to it.
1 tradition available

Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaᵃ, 125 BCE)minor

"they seek Me"

The scroll uses the longer verbal suffix -un (ידרשון) where MT has the same form. Both preserve the ironic description of Israel as a people who 'seek Me daily and delight to know My ways' while failing to practice justice.

Isaiah 58:3

לָמָּה צַּמְנוּ וְלֹא רָאִיתָ עִנִּינוּ נַפְשֵׁנוּ וְלֹא תֵדָע הֵן בְּיוֹם צֹמְכֶם תִּמְצְאוּ־חֵפֶץ וְכָל־עַצְּבֵיכֶם תִּנְגֹּשׂוּ

'Why have we fasted, and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You take no notice?' Look — on the day of your fast you pursue your own interests and oppress all your workers.

KJV Wherefore 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.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. God quotes the people's complaint, then immediately exposes the fraud: their fasting coexists with economic exploitation.
1 tradition available

Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaᵃ, 125 BCE)moderate

"you pursue your own pleasure"

The scroll omits the maqqef and uses plene spelling for 'you find' (timtse'u). More notably, the scroll appears to read the second half of the verse with a slightly different word division affecting 'your laborers,' though the sense remains the same: on your fast day you exploit your workers.

Isaiah 58:4

הֵן לְרִיב וּמַצָּה תָּצוּמוּ וּלְהַכּוֹת בְּאֶגְרֹף רֶשַׁע לֹא־תָצוּמוּ כַיּוֹם לְהַשְׁמִיעַ בַּמָּרוֹם קוֹלְכֶם

You fast only to quarrel and fight and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast as you do today to make your voice heard on high.

KJV Behold, 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.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The irony: fasting is supposed to humble, but their fast days produce quarreling and violence.
1 tradition available

Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaᵃ, 125 BCE)minor

"to make your voice heard on high"

Identical consonantal text. The rebuke that fasting accompanied by strife and wickedness will not 'make your voice heard on high' is preserved without variant.

Isaiah 58:5

הֲכָזֶה יִהְיֶה צוֹם אֶבְחָרֵהוּ יוֹם עַנּוֹת אָדָם נַפְשׁוֹ הֲלָכֹף כְּאַגְמֹן רֹאשׁוֹ וְשַׂק וָאֵפֶר יַצִּיעַ הֲלָזֶה תִּקְרָא־צוֹם וְיוֹם רָצוֹן לַיהוָה

Is this the fast I choose — a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow your head like a reed and spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?

KJV Is 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?

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. God does not reject humility but exposes its counterfeit: the outward posture of bowed head and sackcloth without inner transformation or outward justice.
Isaiah 58:6

הֲלוֹא זֶה צוֹם אֶבְחָרֵהוּ פַּתֵּחַ חַרְצֻבּוֹת רֶשַׁע הַתֵּר אֲגֻדּוֹת מוֹטָה וְשַׁלַּח רְצוּצִים חָפְשִׁים וְכָל־מוֹטָה תְּנַתֵּקוּ

Is this not the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to untie the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

KJV 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?

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

צוֹם tsom
"fast" — fast, fasting, abstinence from food, self-denial

God redefines tsom ('fasting') from ritual self-denial to social justice: loosing bonds of wickedness, freeing the oppressed, sharing bread with the hungry. The true fast is not empty stomachs but full hands — the chapter's revolutionary claim.

Translator Notes

  1. This verse redefines fasting from a ritual of self-denial to an act of liberation. The four actions are all about freeing others from oppression.
1 tradition available

Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaᵃ, 125 BCE)minor

"to loose the bonds of wickedness"

The scroll uses plene spelling for chartzubot ('bonds'). The meaning is identical. This is the beginning of one of the Hebrew Bible's most powerful social justice declarations — the fast that God chooses: loosing bonds of wickedness, letting the oppressed go free, sharing bread with the hungry.

Isaiah 58:7

הֲלוֹא פָרֹס לָרָעֵב לַחְמֶךָ וַעֲנִיִּים מְרוּדִים תָּבִיא בָיִת כִּי־תִרְאֶה עָרֹם וְכִסִּיתוֹ וּמִבְּשָׂרְךָ לֹא תִתְעַלָּם

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house — when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to turn away from your own flesh?

KJV Is 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?

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Four concrete acts of mercy: feeding, housing, clothing, and not hiding from family obligation. Jesus draws on this list in Matthew 25:35-36.
  2. 'Your own flesh' (besarkha) — the poor are not strangers but kin. All humanity shares one flesh.
1 tradition available

Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaᵃ, 125 BCE)minor

"and do not hide yourself from your own flesh"

The scroll spells lo ('not') with waw and aleph (לוא), a characteristic Qumran orthographic practice. The commandment to not turn away from one's own kin is identical in meaning. The social ethics of true fasting — feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, clothing the naked — are firmly attested in the oldest manuscript.

Isaiah 58:8

אָז יִבָּקַע כַּשַּׁחַר אוֹרֶךָ וַאֲרֻכָתְךָ מְהֵרָה תִצְמָח וְהָלַךְ לְפָנֶיךָ צִדְקֶךָ כְּבוֹד יְהוָה יַאַסְפֶךָ

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up swiftly. Your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

KJV Then 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.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The 'then' is conditional — the light breaks forth only when justice replaces empty ritual. The military imagery (vanguard and rear guard) means God's righteousness and glory surround the just community.
1 tradition available

Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaᵃ, 125 BCE)moderate

"and your healing"

The scroll uses plene spelling for arukah ('healing') with waw, and adds a fuller suffix form -kha. The promise is the same: 'Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly.' The word arukah literally means 'new flesh growing over a wound' — a vivid metaphor for social restoration through justice.

Isaiah 58:9

אָז תִּקְרָא וַיהוָה יַעֲנֶה תְּשַׁוַּע וְיֹאמַר הִנֵּנִי אִם־תָּסִיר מִתּוֹכְךָ מוֹטָה שְׁלַח אֶצְבַּע וְדַבֶּר־אָוֶן

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and the speaking of wickedness,

KJV 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;

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. 'Here I am' (hineni) — the same word Abraham and Moses used in response to God. Now God uses it in response to His people. The reversal is stunning.
1 tradition available

Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaᵃ, 125 BCE)minor

"then you shall call"

No meaningful variant. The promise that 'you shall call and the LORD will answer; you shall cry and He will say, Here I am' is identical in both texts.

Isaiah 58:10

וְתָפֵק לָרָעֵב נַפְשֶׁךָ וְנֶפֶשׁ נַעֲנָה תַּשְׂבִּיעַ וְזָרַח בַּחֹשֶׁךְ אוֹרֶךָ וַאֲפֵלָתְךָ כַּצָּהֳרָיִם

if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your gloom shall be as the noonday.

KJV And 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 noonday:

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. 'Pour yourself out' (tapeq nafshekha) — not merely giving food but giving your very self. The fast becomes self-giving rather than self-denial.
1 tradition available

Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaᵃ, 125 BCE)minor

"and you offer your soul to the hungry"

The scroll adds the fuller suffix -kha on 'your soul' (nafshekha vs. nafshekha). Meaning is identical. The conditional promise continues: if you pour out your soul for the hungry and satisfy the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness.

Isaiah 58:11

וְנָחֲךָ יְהוָה תָּמִיד וְהִשְׂבִּיעַ בְּצַחְצָחוֹת נַפְשֶׁךָ וְעַצְמֹתֶיךָ יַחֲלִיץ וְהָיִיתָ כְּגַן רָוֶה וּכְמוֹצָא מַיִם אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יְכַזְּבוּ מֵימָיו

And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in scorched places and strengthen your bones. You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

KJV And 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.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The imagery reverses the fast: those who feed others are themselves fed by God. The 'watered garden' echoes Eden — justice restores paradise.
1 tradition available

Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaᵃ, 125 BCE)minor

"like a watered garden"

The scroll spells raveh ('watered') with plene waw. The beautiful simile 'like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail' is identical in meaning. This metaphor for the person who practices true justice is one of Isaiah's most memorable images.

Isaiah 58:12

וּבָנוּ מִמְּךָ חָרְבוֹת עוֹלָם מוֹסְדֵי דוֹר־וָדוֹר תְּקוֹמֵם וְקֹרָא לְךָ גֹּדֵר פֶּרֶץ מְשֹׁבֵב נְתִיבוֹת לָשָׁבֶת

And your people shall rebuild the ancient ruins; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations. You shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

KJV 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.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Two magnificent titles are bestowed: 'Repairer of the Breach' and 'Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.' These are vocational names — the just community is known by its restorative work.
1 tradition available

Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaᵃ, 125 BCE)minor

"repairer of the breach"

The scroll uses plene spelling for goder ('repairer'). The promise that the community practicing justice will be called 'repairer of the breach, restorer of streets to dwell in' is identical in both texts.

Isaiah 58:13

אִם־תָּשִׁיב מִשַּׁבָּת רַגְלֶךָ עֲשׂוֹת חֲפָצֶיךָ בְּיוֹם קָדְשִׁי וְקָרָאתָ לַשַּׁבָּת עֹנֶג לִקְדוֹשׁ יְהוָה מְכֻבָּד וְכִבַּדְתּוֹ מֵעֲשׂוֹת דְּרָכֶיךָ מִמְּצוֹא חֶפְצְךָ וְדַבֵּר דָּבָר

If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways or pursuing your own interests or talking idly —

KJV If 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:

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The Sabbath is reframed as 'delight' (oneg) — not a burden of restriction but a gift of liberation from relentless productivity.
1 tradition available

Dead Sea Scrolls (1QIsaᵃ, 125 BCE)minor

"a delight"

The scroll uses plene spelling for oneg ('delight'). The Sabbath commandment — calling the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable — is identical in meaning.

Isaiah 58:14

אָז תִּתְעַנַּג עַל־יְהוָה וְהִרְכַּבְתִּיךָ עַל־בָּמֳותֵי אָרֶץ וְהַאֲכַלְתִּיךָ נַחֲלַת יַעֲקֹב אָבִיךָ כִּי פִּי יְהוָה דִּבֵּר

then you shall delight yourself in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

KJV Then 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.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The chapter ends where it began — with a word from the LORD's mouth. But now the word is promise rather than rebuke. The 'heritage of Jacob' is the full covenantal inheritance.
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