Isaiah 58:4

If ye fast for quarrels and strifes, and smite the lowly with your fists, wherefore do ye fast to me as ye do this day, so that your voice may be heard in crying?

Brenton Septuagint

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

3saying, Why have we fasted, and thou regardest not? why have we afflicted our souls, and thou didst not know it? Nay, in the days of your fasts ye find your pleasures, and all them that are under your power ye wound.

5I have not chosen this fast, nor such a day for a man to afflict his soul; neither though thou shouldest bend down thy neck as a ring, and spread under thee sackcloth and ashes, neither thus shall ye call a fast acceptable.

Read all of Isaiah 58

Cross References

Proverbs 21:27The sacrifices of the ungodly are abomination to the Lord, for they offer them wickedly. + 21:27 Or, unlawfully.

Isaiah 59:6Their web shall not become a garment, nor shall they at all clothe themselves with their works; for their works are works of iniquity.

Jonah 3:7And proclamation was made, and it was commanded in Nineve by the king and by his great men, saying, Let not men, or cattle, or oxen, or sheep, taste any thing, nor feed, nor drink water.

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 58:4-8

A Charge against the People. ( b. c. 706.) 3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 4 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. 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a… Read the whole commentary →

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Study Isaiah 58:4