True and False Piety

Isaiah 58:1–14

ca. 1200–332 BCE

¹Cry with full throat, without restraint;

Raise your voice like a ram’s horn!

Declare to My people their transgression,

To the House of Jacob their sin.

²To be sure, they seek Me daily,

Eager to learn My ways.

Like a nation that does what is right,

That has not abandoned the laws of its God,

They ask Me for the right way,

They are eager for the nearness of God:

³“Why, when we fasted, did You not see?

When we starved our bodies, did You pay no heed?”

Because on your fast day

You see to your business

And oppress all your laborers!

⁴Because you fast in strife and contention,

And you strike with a wicked fist!

Your fasting today is not such

As to make your voice heard on high.

⁵Is such the fast I desire,

A day for men to starve their bodies?

Is it bowing the head like a bulrush

And lying in sackcloth and ashes?

Do you call that a fast,

A day when the Lord is favorable?

⁶No, this is the fast I desire:

To unlock fetters of wickedness,

And untie the cords of the yoke

To let the oppressed go free;

To break off every yoke.

⁷It is to share your bread with the hungry,

And to take the wretched poor into your home;

When you see the naked, to clothe him,

And not to ignore your own kin.

⁸Then shall your light burst through like the dawn

And your healing spring up quickly;

Your Vindicator shall march before you,

The Presence of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

⁹Then, when you call, the Lord will answer;

When you cry, He will say: Here I am.

If you banish the yoke from your midst,

The menacing hand, and evil speech,

¹⁰And you offer your compassion to the hungry

And satisfy the famished creature—

Then shall your light shine in darkness,

And your gloom shall be like noonday.

¹¹The Lord will guide you always;

He will slake your thirst in parched places

And give strength to your bones.

You shall be like a watered garden,

Like a spring whose waters do not fail.

¹²Men from your midst shall rebuild ancient ruins,

You shall restore foundations laid long ago.

And you shall be called

“Repairer of fallen walls,

Restorer of lanes for habitation.”

¹³If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,

From pursuing your affairs on My holy day;

If you call the sabbath “delight,”

The Lord’s holy day “honored”;

And if you honor it and go not your ways

Nor look to your affairs, nor strike bargains—

¹⁴Then you can seek the favor of the Lord.

I will set you astride the heights of the earth,

And let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob—

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

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Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

True and False Piety

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