3 ‘Why have we afasted and You do not see?
Why have we afflicted our souls and You do not know?’
Behold, on the bday of your fast you find your desire,
And oppress all your workers.
4 Behold, you fast for contention and aquarreling and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you do today to bmake your voice heard on high.
5 Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to afflict himself?
Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out asackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an bacceptable day to Yahweh?
6 Is this not the fast which I choose,
To aloosen the bonds of wickedness,
To release the bands of the yoke,
And to blet the oppressed go free
And cbreak every yoke?
7 Is it not to adivide your bread with the hungry
And bbring the afflicted homeless into the house;
When you see the cnaked, you cover him;
And not to dhide yourself from your own flesh?