10 Hear the word of the Lord,
Give ear to the teaching1 of our God,
you people of zGomorrah!
11 a“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12 “When you come to bappear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
cNew moon and Sabbath and the dcalling of convocations—
I cannot endure einiquity and fsolemn assembly.
14 Your cnew moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you gspread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
heven though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
iyour hands are full of blood.
16 jWash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
kcease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
lseek justice,
correct oppression;
mbring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
True and False Fasting
1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back;
clift up your voice like a trumpet;
ddeclare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 eYet 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.
3 f‘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,1
gand oppress all your workers.
4 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.
5 hIs such the fast that I choose,
ia 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?
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose:
jto loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps kof the yoke,
to let the oppressed2 go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not lto share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
mand not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 nThen shall your light break forth like the dawn,
oand your healing shall spring up speedily;
pyour righteousness shall go before you;
qthe glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away rthe yoke from your midst,
sthe pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 tif you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
nthen shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
11 And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be ulike a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
12 vAnd 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.
The Humble and Contrite in Spirit
1 aThus says the Lord:
b“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
2 cAll these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the Lord.
dBut this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.
3 e“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;
he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck;
he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers fpig’s blood;
he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.
gThese have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their abominations;
4 hI also will choose harsh treatment for them
and bring itheir fears upon them,
jbecause when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke, they did not listen;
kbut they did what was evil in my eyes
and chose that in which I did not delight.”