Isaiah 58
58 Call with the throat,
restrain not,
As a trumpet lift up thy voice,
And declare to My people
their transgression,
And to the house of Jacob //house of Israel//
their sins;
Seeing -- Me day by day
they seek, //My people and the house of Israel//
And the knowledge of My ways
they desire, //My people and the house of Israel//
As a nation that righteousness
hath done,
And the judgment of its God
hath not forsaken,
They //My people and the house of Israel// ask of me
judgments of righteousness,
The drawing near of God
they //My people and the house of Israel// desire:
^3 `Why have
we fasted //tzom//,
and Thou hast not seen?
We have afflicted our soul,
and Thou knowest not.'
Lo, in the day of your fast
ye find pleasure,
And all your labours
ye exact //exploit all your laborers//.
Lo, for strife and debate
ye fast,
And to smite
with the fist of wickedness,
Ye fast
not as [to]-day,
To sound in the high place your voice.
Like this is the fast that I choose?
The day of a man's afflicting his soul?
To bow as a reed his head,
And sackcloth
and ashes spread out?
This dost thou call a fast,
And a desirable day -- to Jehovah?
The fast people choose not Yah
Is not this the fast
that I chose --
To loose the bands of wickedness,
To shake off the burdens of the yoke,
And to send out the oppressed free,
And every yoke ye draw off?
Is it not to deal to the hungry thy bread,
And the mourning poor bring home,
That thou seest the naked and cover him,
And from thine own flesh hide not thyself?
The fast Yah chooses
^8 ^Then broken up
as the dawn
is thy light,
And thy health in haste
springeth up,
Gone before thee
hath thy righteousness,
The honour of Jehovah
doth gather thee.
^9 ^Then thou callest,
and Jehovah answereth,
Thou criest,
and He saith,
`Behold Me.'
If thou turn aside
from thy midst the yoke,
The sending forth of the finger,
And the speaking of vanity,
And dost bring out to the hungry thy soul,
And the afflicted soul dost satisfy,
Then risen in the darkness
hath thy light,
And thy thick darkness [is] as noon.
And Jehovah doth lead thee continually,
And hath satisfied in drought thy soul,
And thy bones He armeth,
And thou hast been as a watered garden,
And as an outlet of waters,
whose waters lie not.
^12 ^And they have built out of thee the wastes of old, The foundations of many generations thou raisest up, And one calleth thee, `Repairer of the breach, Restorer of paths to rest in.'
If thou dost
turn from the Sabbath
thy foot, //Jewish idiom meaning to refrain from pursing one’s own desires and interests//
Doing thine own pleasure on My holy day, //from self-gratification//
And hast cried to the Sabbath,
A delight,'
To the holy of Jehovah,
Honoured,'
And hast honoured it,
without doing thine own ways, //from the deeds of your own ways//
Without finding thine own pleasure, // not pursing your own business, //
And speaking a word. // nor speaking about it (business).//
Then dost
thou delight thyself on Jehovah, //delight=תִּתְעַנַּג to enjoy oneself, admire, “you will hang on”//
And I have caused thee to ride on high places of earth,
And have caused thee to eat the inheritance of Jacob thy father,
For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken!
Part of observing the Sabbath is in calling it a delight and an honor
by keeping the Sabbath we delight ourselves in the Lord - Psalms 37:4-5; Jeremiah 15:16; Psalm 1:2; Psalms 35:9; Psalm 111:2; Psalm 119:174
Originally the Sabbath was given as a sign TO the Sabbath keeper that Yah is their god. Now keeping it will cause the Sabbath keeper to delight in Yah - this isn’t about Yah delighting in us, the sign isn’t for Yah. The benefit isn’t for Yah, it’s for the Sabbath Keeper.
