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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You don’t fast today so as to make your voice to be heard on high.
- BSB You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.
- NKJV Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high.
- NASB “Behold, you fast for contention and strife, and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you have done today to make your voice heard on high!
- NLT What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.
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
Their fasting fuels strife, contention, and violence, so it cannot reach heaven. Fasting joined to wrongdoing gains nothing from God.
Overview
God further rebukes a fasting that produces quarreling and blows rather than humility. Such self-focused religion will not make their voice heard on high. The verse teaches that outward acts of devotion are worthless when paired with sin against others, pressing the need for the inward renewal that the gospel brings through the Spirit.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 1 Kgs 21:9–13And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people:
- Prov 21:27The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?
- Matt 6:16–18Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
- Isa 59:2But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
- Phil 1:14–15And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
- Acts 23:1–2And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.
- John 18:28Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
- Joel 2:13–14And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
- Matt 23:13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
- Luke 20:47Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.
- Isa 59:6Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
- Jonah 3:7And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
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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 58:4 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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