True Religion
1 Shout the message!
Don't hold back.
Say to my people Israel:
You've sinned! You've turned
against the Lord.
2 Day after day, you worship him
and seem eager to learn
his teachings.
You act like a nation
that wants to do right
by obeying his laws.
You ask him about justice,
and say you enjoy
worshiping the Lord.
3 You wonder why the Lord
pays no attention
when you go without eating
and act humble.
But on those same days
that you give up eating,
you think only of yourselves
and abuse your workers.
4 You even get angry
and ready to fight.
No wonder God won't listen
to your prayers!
5 Do you think the Lord
wants you to give up eating
and to act as humble
as a bent-over bush?
Or to dress in sackcloth
and sit in ashes?
Is this really what he wants
on a day of worship?
6 I'll tell you
what it really means
to worship the Lord.
Remove the chains of prisoners
who are bound unjustly.
Free those who are abused!
7 Share your food with everyone
who is hungry;
share your home
with the poor and homeless.
Give clothes to those in need;
don't turn away your relatives.
8 Then your light will shine
like the dawning sun, and you
will quickly be healed.
Your honesty will protect you
as you advance,
and the glory of the Lord
will defend you from behind.
9 When you beg the Lord for help,
he will answer, “Here I am!”
Don't mistreat others
or falsely accuse them
or say something cruel.
10 Give your food to the hungry
and care for the homeless.
Then your light will shine
in the dark;
your darkest hour will be
like the noonday sun.
11 The Lord will always guide you
and provide good things to eat
when you are in the desert.
He will make you healthy.
You will be like a garden
that has plenty of water
or like a stream
that never runs dry.
12 You will rebuild those houses
left in ruins for years;
you will be known
as a builder and repairer
of city walls and streets.
13 But first, you must start
respecting the Sabbath
as a joyful day of worship.
You must stop doing and saying
whatever you please
on this special day.
14 Then you will truly enjoy
knowing the Lord.
He will let you rule
from the highest mountains
and bless you with the land
of your ancestor Jacob.
The Lord has spoken!
1 Crye aloude, spare not: lift vp thy voyce like a trumpet, and shewe my people their transgression, and to the house of Iaakob, their sinnes. 2 Yet they seeke me dayly, and will knowe my wayes, euen as a nation that did righteously, and had not forsaken the statutes of their God: they aske of me the ordinances of iustice: they wil drawe neere vnto God, saying, 3 Wherefore haue we fasted, and thou seest it not? we haue punished our selues, and thou regardest it not. Beholde, in the day of your fast you will seeke your will, and require all your dettes. 4 Beholde, ye fast to strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickednesse: ye shall not fast as ye doe to day, to make your voyce to be heard aboue. 5 Is it such a fast that I haue chosen, that a man should afflict his soule for a day, and to bowe downe his head, as a bull rush, and to lie downe in sackecloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fasting, or an acceptable day to the Lord? 6 Is not this the fasting, that I haue chosen, to loose the bandes of wickednes, to take off the heauie burdens, and to let the oppressed goe free, and that ye breake euery yoke? 7 Is it not to deale thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poore that wander, vnto thine house? when thou seest the naked, that thou couer him, and hide not thy selfe from thine owne flesh? 8 Then shall thy light breake foorth as the morning, and thine health shall grow speedily: thy righteousnes shall goe before thee, and the glorie of the Lord shall embrace thee. 9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answere: thou shalt cry and hee shall say, Here I am: if thou take away from the mids of thee the yoke, the putting foorth of the finger, and wicked speaking: 10 If thou powre out thy soule to the hungrie, and refresh the troubled soule: then shall thy light spring out in the darkenes, and thy darkenes shalbe as the noone day. 11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfie thy soule in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watred garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters faile not. 12 And they shalbe of thee, that shall builde the olde waste places: thou shalt rayse vp the foundations for many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach and the restorer of the pathes to dwell in. 13 If thou turne away thy foote from the Sabbath, from doing thy will on mine holy day, and call the Sabbath a delite, to consecrate it, as glorious to the Lord, and shalt honour him, not doing thine owne wayes, nor seeking thine owne will, nor speaking a vaine word, 14 Then shalt thou delite in the Lord, and I wil cause thee to mount vpon the hie places of the earth, and feede thee with the heritage of Iaakob thy father: for the mouth of ye Lord hath spoken it.