Discovery BoxIsaiah 58:5-7 
Context58:5 Is this really the kind of fasting I want? 1
Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, 2
bowing their heads like a reed
and stretching out 3 on sackcloth and ashes?
Is this really what you call a fast,
a day that is pleasing to the Lord?
58:6 No, this is the kind of fast I want. 4
I want you 5 to remove the sinful chains,
to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke,
to set free the oppressed, 6
and to break every burdensome yoke.
58:7 I want you 7 to share your food with the hungry
and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. 8
When you see someone naked, clothe him!
Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood! 9
1 tn Heb “choose” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB “wish.”
2 tn Heb “a day when man humbles himself.” The words “Do I want” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 tn Or “making [their] bed.”
4 tn Heb “Is this not a fast I choose?” “No” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 tn The words “I want you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Heb “crushed.”
7 tn Heb “Is it not?” The rhetorical question here expects a positive answer, “It is!”
8 tn Heb “and afflicted [ones], homeless [ones] you should bring [into] a house.” On the meaning of מְרוּדִים (mÿrudim, “homeless”) see HALOT 633 s.v. *מָרוּד.
9 tn Heb “and from your flesh do not hide yourself.”
