Isaiah 58:3

“Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest it not? have we afflicted our soul, and thou regardest it not?” Behold, on the day of your fasting ye follow your business, and all your acquired gains do ye exact.

Leeser Tanakh

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

2Yet me do they ever seek day by day, and to know my ways do they always desire; as a nation that hath done righteousness, and hath not forsaken the ordinance of their God: continually do they ask of me the ordinances of justice—do they desire to draw nigh unto God.

4Behold, for contention and strife do ye fast, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye fast not so at this day, to cause your voice to be heard on high.

Read all of Isaiah 58

Cross References

Exodus 2:23And it came to pass in this long time, that the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried; and their complaint came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

Leviticus 16:31It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict yourselves [by fasting], as a statute for ever.

Numbers 23:4And God met Bil'am: and he said unto him, The seven altars have I made ready, and I have offered a bullock and a ram upon every altar.

Job 34:9For he hath said, “It profiteth a man nothing when he acteth according to the pleasure of God.”

Proverbs 28:9When one turneth away his ear so as not to listen to the law, even his prayer becometh an abomination.

Isaiah 47:6I was wroth over my people, I defiled my inheritance, and gave them into thy hand: [yet] thou didst grant them no mercy; upon the aged hast thou laid very heavily thy yoke.

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 58:2-3

A Charge against the People. ( b. c. 706.) 1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. When our Lord Jesus promised to send the Comforter he added, When he shall come he shall convince ( John xvi. 7, 8 ); for… Read the whole commentary →

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