“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!
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 21:9–13She wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.
- Prov 21:27The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more, when he brings it with a wicked mind!
- Matt 6:16–18“Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
- Isa 59:2But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
- Phil 1:14–15and that most of the brothers in the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear.
- Acts 23:1–2Paul, looking steadfastly at the council, said, “Brothers, I have lived before God in all good conscience until today.”
- John 18:28They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.
- Joel 2:13–14Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.
- Matt 23:13“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
- Luke 20:47who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these will receive greater condemnation.”
- Isa 59:6Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands.
- Jonah 3:7He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; 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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