Bible Glide

Isaiah 58

Isaiah 58 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Isaiah 58 confronts empty religion and calls God's people to worship with justice, mercy, and humility. It shows that fasting and Sabbath keeping are not about outward display alone, but about a life that reflects God's care for the weak, the hungry, and the oppressed.

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What happens in Isaiah 58?

The chapter begins with a command to expose the people's sin, even though they appear eager to seek God. Their fasting is rejected because it is mixed with selfishness, strife, and oppression. God explains what true fasting looks like: loosening injustice, freeing the oppressed, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and clothing the naked. When they turn from harmful speech and generous action, God promises light, healing, guidance, and lasting strength. The chapter ends with a call to honor the Sabbath with delight and reverence, leading to joy and restoration.

Isaiah 58 comes near the end of a section focused on repentance, covenant faithfulness, and the hope of renewal for God's people. It follows warnings about hollow worship and points forward to the kind of restored life God desires: justice, mercy, and trust expressed in daily obedience.

Themes to notice

  • True fastingGod rejects outward religious acts that are disconnected from obedience, mercy, and justice.
  • Care for the vulnerableFaithful worship includes feeding, housing, clothing, and defending those in need.
  • Sabbath delightHonoring God's holy day is framed as a joyful act of trust and reverence.

Questions for Isaiah 58

  • What does God say makes fasting acceptable to Him in this chapter?
  • How do justice and mercy shape the way God's people are called to worship?
  • What promises are given when the people turn from selfish ways and honor the Sabbath?

Read the full text of Isaiah 58 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

Isaiah 58

True Fasts and Sabbaths

1“Cry aloud, do not hold back!

Raise your voice like a ram’s horn.

Declare to My people their transgression

and to the house of Jacob their sins.

2For day after day they seek Me

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.”

3“Why have we fasted,

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.

4You fast with contention and strife

to strike viciously with your fist.

You cannot fast as you do today

and have your voice be heard on high.

5Is this the fast I have chosen:

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?

6Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen:

to break the chains of wickedness,

to untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and tear off every yoke?

7Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry,

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?

8Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will come quickly.

Your righteousness will go before you,

and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;

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,

10and if you give yourself to the hungry

and satisfy the afflicted soul,

then your light will go forth in the darkness,

and your night will be like noonday.

11The LORD will always guide you;

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.

12Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;

you will restore the age-old foundations;

you will be called Repairer of the Breach,

Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.

13If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath,

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,

14then you will delight yourself in the LORD,

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.

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