Isaiah 58:5

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Is this really the kind of fasting I want? Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, bowing their heads like a reed and stretching out on sackcloth and ashes? Is this really what you call a fast, a day that is pleasing to the LORD?

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Zech 7:5 : 5 “Speak to all the people and priests of the land as follows:‘When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months through all these seventy years, did you truly fast for me– for me, indeed?
  • Job 2:8 : 8 Job took a shard of broken pottery to scrape himself with while he was sitting among the ashes.
  • Isa 49:8 : 8 This is what the LORD says:“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you; in the day of deliverance I will help you; I will protect you and make you a covenant mediator for people, to rebuild the land and to reassign the desolate property.
  • Lev 16:29 : 29 Review of the Day of Atonement“This is to be a perpetual statute for you. In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves and do no work of any kind, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner who lives in your midst,
  • Isa 61:2 : 2 to announce the year when the LORD will show his favor, the day when our God will seek vengeance, to console all who mourn,
  • Dan 9:3-9 : 3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 I prayed to the LORD my God, confessing in this way:“O Lord, great and awesome God who is faithful to his covenant with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned! We have done what is wrong and wicked; we have rebelled by turning away from your commandments and standards. 6 We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, and to all the inhabitants of the land as well. 7 “You are righteous, O Lord, but we are humiliated this day– the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far away in all the countries in which you have scattered them, because they have behaved unfaithfully toward you. 8 O LORD, we have been humiliated– our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors– because we have sinned against you. 9 Yet the Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. 10 We have not obeyed the LORD our God by living according to his laws that he set before us through his servants the prophets. 11 “All Israel has broken your law and turned away by not obeying you. Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. 12 He has carried out his threats against us and our rulers who were over us by bringing great calamity on us– what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven! 13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has come on us. Still we have not tried to pacify the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom from your reliable moral standards. 14 The LORD was mindful of the calamity, and he brought it on us. For the LORD our God is just in all he has done, and we have not obeyed him. 15 “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with great power and made a name for yourself that is remembered to this day– we have sinned and behaved wickedly. 16 O Lord, according to all your justice, please turn your raging anger away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. For due to our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people are mocked by all our neighbors. 17 “So now, our God, accept the prayer and requests of your servant, and show favor to your devastated sanctuary for your own sake. 18 Listen attentively, my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins and the city called by your name. For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you, but because your compassion is abundant. 19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, pay attention, and act! Don’t delay, for your own sake, O my God! For your city and your people are called by your name.”
  • Jonah 3:5-8 : 5 The people of Nineveh believed in God, and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes. 7 He issued a proclamation and said,“In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep, is to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water. 8 Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly to God, and everyone must turn from their evil way of living and from the violence that they do.
  • 1 Kgs 21:27-29 : 27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He slept in sackcloth and walked around dejected. 28 The LORD’s message came to Elijah the Tishbite, 29 “Have you noticed how Ahab shows remorse before me? Because he shows remorse before me, I will not bring disaster on his dynasty during his lifetime, but during the reign of his son.”
  • 2 Kgs 6:30 : 30 When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes. As he was passing by on the wall, the people could see he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes.
  • 2 Chr 20:3 : 3 Jehoshaphat was afraid, so he decided to seek the LORD’s advice. He decreed that all Judah should observe a fast.
  • Ezra 10:6 : 6 Then Ezra got up from in front of the temple of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he stayed there, he did not eat food or drink water, for he was in mourning over the infidelity of the exiles.
  • Neh 9:1-2 : 1 The People Acknowledge Their Sin before God On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust. 2 Those truly of Israelite descent separated from all the foreigners, standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.
  • Esth 4:3 : 3 Throughout each and every province where the king’s edict and law were announced there was considerable mourning among the Jews, along with fasting, weeping, and sorrow. Sackcloth and ashes were characteristic of many.
  • Esth 4:16 : 16 “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa and fast in my behalf. Don’t eat and don’t drink for three days, night or day. My female attendants and I will also fast in the same way. Afterward I will go to the king, even though it violates the law. If I perish, I perish!”
  • Isa 58:3 : 3 They lament,‘Why don’t you notice when we fast? Why don’t you pay attention when we humble ourselves?’ Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, you oppress your workers.
  • Ps 69:13 : 13 O LORD, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me! O God, because of your great loyal love, answer me with your faithful deliverance!
  • Luke 4:19 : 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
  • Rom 12:2 : 2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God– what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.
  • 1 Pet 2:5 : 5 you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Isa 58:6-7
    2 verses
    87%

    6 No, this is the kind of fast I want. I want you to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, to set free the oppressed, and to break every burdensome yoke.

    7 I want you to share your food with the hungry and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. When you see someone naked, clothe him! Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood!

  • Isa 58:1-4
    4 verses
    83%

    1 The Lord Desires Genuine Devotion“Shout loudly! Don’t be quiet! Yell as loud as a trumpet! Confront my people with their rebellious deeds; confront Jacob’s family with their sin!

    2 They seek me day after day; they want to know my requirements, like a nation that does what is right and does not reject the law of their God. They ask me for just decrees; they want to be near God.

    3 They lament,‘Why don’t you notice when we fast? Why don’t you pay attention when we humble ourselves?’ Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, you oppress your workers.

    4 Look, your fasting is accompanied by arguments, brawls, and fistfights. Do not fast as you do today, trying to make your voice heard in heaven.

  • Joel 1:13-15
    3 verses
    74%

    13 Get dressed and lament, you priests! Wail, you who minister at the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of your God anymore.

    14 Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.

    15 How awful that day will be! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer.

  • Zech 7:5
    74%

    5 “Speak to all the people and priests of the land as follows:‘When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months through all these seventy years, did you truly fast for me– for me, indeed?

  • Isa 22:12
    73%

    12 At that time the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies, called for weeping and mourning, for shaved heads and sackcloth.

  • Dan 9:3
    73%

    3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

  • Matt 6:16-17
    2 verses
    71%

    16 Proper Fasting“When you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, they have their reward!

    17 When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

  • Joel 2:12-13
    2 verses
    71%

    12 An Appeal for Repentance“Yet even now,” the LORD says,“return to me with all your heart– with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

    13 Tear your hearts, not just your garments!” Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love– often relenting from calamitous punishment.

  • Jer 14:12
    71%

    12 Even if they fast, I will not hear their cries for help. Even if they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will kill them through wars, famines, and plagues.”

  • Ps 69:10
    70%

    10 I weep and refrain from eating food, which causes others to insult me.

  • Neh 9:1
    70%

    1 The People Acknowledge Their Sin before God On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust.

  • Hos 9:5
    70%

    5 So what will you do on the festival day, on the festival days of the LORD?

  • Isa 58:13
    70%

    13 You must observe the Sabbath rather than doing anything you please on my holy day. You must look forward to the Sabbath and treat the LORD’s holy day with respect. You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities, and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals.

  • Joel 1:8
    70%

    8 A Call to Lament Wail like a young virgin clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of her husband-to-be.

  • Ps 35:13
    70%

    13 When they were sick, I wore sackcloth, and refrained from eating food.(If I am lying, may my prayers go unanswered!)

  • Isa 58:9-10
    2 verses
    70%

    9 Then you will call out, and the LORD will respond; you will cry out, and he will reply,‘Here I am.’ You must remove the burdensome yoke from among you and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.

    10 You must actively help the hungry and feed the oppressed. Then your light will dispel the darkness, and your darkness will be transformed into noonday.

  • Isa 1:11-14
    4 verses
    69%

    11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” says the LORD.“I have had my fill of burnt sacrifices of rams and the fat from steers. The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats I do not want.

    12 When you enter my presence, do you actually think I want this– animals trampling on my courtyards?

    13 Do not bring any more meaningless offerings; I consider your incense detestable! You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations, but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations!

    14 I hate your new moon festivals and assemblies; they are a burden that I am tired of carrying.

  • Isa 50:3
    69%

    3 I can clothe the sky in darkness; I can cover it with sackcloth.”

  • Lam 1:12
    69%

    12 ל(Lamed) Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by on the road? Look and see! Is there any pain like mine? The Lord has afflicted me, he has inflicted it on me when he burned with anger.

  • Mal 1:13
    69%

    13 You also say,‘How tiresome it is.’ You turn up your nose at it,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,“and instead bring what is stolen, lame, or sick. You bring these things for an offering! Should I accept this from you?” asks the LORD.

  • Amos 8:10
    68%

    10 I will turn your festivals into funerals, and all your songs into funeral dirges. I will make everyone wear funeral clothes and cause every head to be shaved bald. I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day.

  • 1 Kgs 21:27
    68%

    27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He slept in sackcloth and walked around dejected.

  • Isa 61:2-3
    2 verses
    68%

    2 to announce the year when the LORD will show his favor, the day when our God will seek vengeance, to console all who mourn,

    3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion, by giving them a turban, instead of ashes, oil symbolizing joy, instead of mourning, a garment symbolizing praise, instead of discouragement. They will be called oaks of righteousness, trees planted by the LORD to reveal his splendor.

  • Mal 1:8
    68%

    8 For when you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer the lame and sick, is that not wrong as well? Indeed, try offering them to your governor! Will he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

  • Jer 4:8
    68%

    8 So put on sackcloth! Mourn and wail, saying,‘The fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us!’”

  • Jonah 3:5
    68%

    5 The people of Nineveh believed in God, and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

  • Amos 5:18
    67%

    18 The Lord Demands Justice Woe to those who wish for the day of the LORD! Why do you want the LORD’s day of judgment to come? It will bring darkness, not light.

  • Joel 2:15
    67%

    15 Blow the trumpet in Zion. Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly!

  • Zeph 1:15
    67%

    15 That day will be a day of God’s anger, a day of distress and hardship, a day of devastation and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and dark skies,

  • Isa 22:5
    67%

    5 For the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies, has planned a day of panic, defeat, and confusion. In the Valley of Vision people shout and cry out to the hill.

  • Zech 8:19
    67%

    19 “The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says,‘The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become joyful and happy, pleasant feasts for the house of Judah, so love truth and peace.’

  • Job 42:6
    67%

    6 Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes!

  • Isa 3:15
    67%

    15 Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?” The Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies has spoken.

  • Esth 4:3
    67%

    3 Throughout each and every province where the king’s edict and law were announced there was considerable mourning among the Jews, along with fasting, weeping, and sorrow. Sackcloth and ashes were characteristic of many.

  • Job 16:15
    67%

    15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and buried my horn in the dust;

  • Mal 3:14
    67%

    14 You have said,‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD of Heaven’s Armies?

  • Isa 1:16
    66%

    16 Wash! Cleanse yourselves! Remove your sinful deeds from my sight. Stop sinning!

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