True Fasts and Sabbaths
“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Tit 2:15Hos 8:1Act 20:26-27Act 7:51-52Ezk 3:17-21Mat 3:7-9Ezk 3:5-9Ezk 20:4
Raise your voice like a ram’s horn.
Declare to My people their transgression
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
For day after day they seek Me Tit 1:16Isa 29:13Mat 15:7-91Pe 2:1-2Jas 1:21-22Mrk 4:16-171Sa 15:21-25Ezk 33:30-33
and delight to know My ways,
like a nation that does what is right
and does not forsake the justice of their God.
They ask Me for righteous judgments;
they delight in the nearness of God.”
“Why have we fasted, Luk 18:9-12Mal 3:14Lev 16:29Pro 28:9Jon 3:6-8Mat 20:11-12Neh 5:7Dan 10:2-3
and You have not seen?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and You have not noticed?”
“Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please,
and you oppress all your workers.
You fast with contention and strife 1Ki 21:9-13Isa 59:2Mat 6:16-18Pro 21:27Act 23:1-2Isa 59:6Jhn 18:28Jol 2:13-14
to strike viciously with your fist.
You cannot fast as you do today
and have your voice be heard on high.
Is this the fast I have chosen: Dan 9:3-19Zec 7:5Isa 49:8Est 4:16Isa 61:2Rom 12:22Ch 20:3Lev 16:29
a day for a man to deny himself,
to bow his head like a reed,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast
and a day acceptable to the LORD?
Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: Neh 5:10-12Isa 58:91Ti 6:1Jer 34:8-11Mic 3:2-4
to break the chains of wickedness,
to untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and tear off every yoke?
Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, Mat 25:35-45Ezk 18:7Luk 3:111Jn 3:17-18Pro 28:27Pro 25:21Isa 58:10Rom 12:20-21
to bring the poor and homeless into your home,
to clothe the naked when you see him,
and not to turn away
from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, Isa 52:12Jer 33:6Psa 37:6Jer 30:17Mal 4:2Psa 85:13Isa 58:10-11Act 10:35
and your healing will come quickly.
Your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; Jer 29:12-13Psa 50:15Isa 65:24Mat 7:7-8Psa 91:15Isa 1:15Psa 118:5Psa 34:15-17
you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,
and if you give yourself to the hungry Pro 11:24-25Isa 42:16Isa 58:7-8Psa 37:6Job 11:17Deu 15:7-10Luk 18:22Pro 14:31
and satisfy the afflicted soul,
then your light will go forth in the darkness,
and your night will be like noonday.
The LORD will always guide you; Jhn 4:14Jer 31:12Psa 32:8Isa 49:10Jhn 16:13Psa 25:9Pro 11:25Sng 4:15
He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land
and strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; Isa 61:4Amo 9:14Ezk 36:33Amo 9:11Neh 2:17Ezk 36:8-11Isa 51:3Jer 31:38
you will restore the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of the Breach,
Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.
If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath, Jer 17:21-27Psa 92:1-2Isa 56:2-6Neh 13:15-22Rev 1:10Exo 20:8-11Psa 84:10Deu 5:12-15
from doing as you please on My holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight,
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
if you honor it by not going your own way
or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,
then you will delight yourself in the LORD, Deu 32:13Job 22:26Isa 1:19-20Hab 3:18-19Isa 33:16Deu 33:29Isa 40:5Psa 37:4
and I will make you ride on the heights of the land
and feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.