Chapter Overview
Summary
Isaiah 58 is the TRUE-FAST oracle — God-rejects-empty-fasting and-defines-the-fast-he-chooses: loosing-bonds, sharing-bread, sheltering-the-homeless, clothing-the-naked (vv. 6–7). The chapter is foundational social-justice-theology in-the-OT. Verse 6 is partially-cited at-Luke 4:18.
Notable Variants
58:6 'this is the fast I choose' → Luke 4:18 (partial); 58:7 'share your bread with the hungry' → Matthew 25:35–40; 58:11 'spring of water whose waters never fail' → John 4:14 / 7:38.
Structural Notes
MT Isaiah 58 = LXX Isaiah 58. 14 verses. THE TRUE-FAST chapter.
Cry aloud — do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a shofar! Declare to My people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.
'Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins' tracks MT. CRY-LIKE-A-TRUMPET. Prophetic-volume.
Yet day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and had not forsaken the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in drawing near to God.
'Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God' tracks MT. APPEARANCE-OF-PIETY denounced.
'Why have we fasted, and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You take no notice?' Look — on the day of your fast you pursue your own interests and oppress all your workers.
'Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it? Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers' tracks MT. FAST-WHILE-OPPRESSING. The-most-direct rebuke of-formalist-piety. Matthew 6:16–18 (Jesus on-fasting-without-show) Christologically-extends.
You fast only to quarrel and fight and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast as you do today to make your voice heard on high.
'Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high' tracks MT.
Is this the fast I choose — a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow your head like a reed and spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
'Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?' tracks MT.
Is this not the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to untie the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
'Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?' tracks MT. THE TRUE-FAST. Luke 4:18 (Jesus' Nazareth-sermon citing Isa 61:1) includes 'TO SET AT LIBERTY THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED' (aphesin tois tethrausmenois) — drawn-from-this-verse, not-Isa 61. Luke combines Isa 58:6 + 61:1.
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house — when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to turn away from your own flesh?
'Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?' tracks MT. SHARE-BREAD / HOUSE-HOMELESS / CLOTHE-NAKED. Matthew 25:35–40 ('I was hungry and you gave me food … naked and you clothed me') Christologically-fulfills. The Beatitude-judgment criteria explicitly-rooted-here.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up swiftly. Your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
'Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard' tracks MT. LIGHT-BREAK-FORTH. Matthew 5:16 ('let your light shine before others') extends.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and the speaking of wickedness,
'Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say: Here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness' tracks MT.
if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your gloom shall be as the noonday.
'If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday' tracks MT. POUR-YOURSELF-OUT-FOR-HUNGRY. Phil 2:7's 'emptied himself' Christologically-models.
And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in scorched places and strengthen your bones. You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
'And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail' tracks MT. SPRING-OF-WATER-NEVER-FAILS. John 4:14 ('a spring of water welling up to eternal life') Christologically-fulfills. John 7:38 ('rivers of living water from his belly') extends.
And your people shall rebuild the ancient ruins; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations. You shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
'And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in' tracks MT. REPAIRER-OF-BREACH. Restoration-vocation.
If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways or pursuing your own interests or talking idly —
'If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly' tracks MT.
then you shall delight yourself in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
'Then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken' tracks MT. DELIGHT-IN-THE-LORD. // Ps 37:4.