“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.
Parallel translations
- WEB ‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your laborers.
- 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.
- NKJV ‘Whyhave we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers.
- NASB ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And oppress all your workers.
- NLT ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’ “I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The people complain that God ignores their fasting, but He answers that they fast while pursuing pleasure and oppressing workers. Ritual without righteousness is unacceptable to God.
Overview
Israel feels slighted that their fasting goes unnoticed, yet God exposes the contradiction: on their fast days they seek their own pleasure and exploit their laborers. Their religious discipline is divorced from justice and mercy. This indictment underscores that God desires mercy, not mere ritual, a theme Jesus reaffirms and fulfills in calling for true heart obedience.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Luke 18:9–12To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable:
- Mal 3:14You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts?
- Prov 28:9Whoever turns his ear away from hearing the law, even his prayer is detestable.
- Lev 16:29This is to be a permanent statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall humble yourselves and not do any work—whether the native or the foreigner who resides among you—
- Jonah 3:6–8When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
- Neh 5:7and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them
- Matt 20:11–12On receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner.
- Zech 7:5–7“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?
- Isa 47:6I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.
- Matt 18:28–35But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’
- Lev 23:27“The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You shall hold a sacred assembly and humble yourselves, and present an offering made by fire to the LORD.
- Num 23:4and God met with him. “I have set up seven altars,” Balaam said, “and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”
- Isa 22:13But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
- Mic 3:9–11Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right,
- Dan 10:2–3In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks.
- Luke 15:29But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
- Ps 69:10I wept and fasted, but it brought me reproach.
- Lev 16:31It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, that you may humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute.
- Jer 34:9–17that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage.
- Exod 2:23–24After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 58:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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