Isaiah 58

Isaiah 58

Thus speaks the Lord:

Is this not the fast I choose:
To loosen wicked chains,
Undo the choking yoke,
Set the oppressed free?

Is this not what fasting means in prophecy:
Renunciation and sacrifice,
Sharing your crust of bread,
Breaking open your savings,
Giving shelter to the homeless,
Clothing the naked?

Is that not more
Than reading prayers aloud,
Or weeks of abstinence from meat?

Then your light shall dawn like morning,
And you shall swiftly heal.

(From the prophet Isaiah 58:6–8a)

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