Isaiah 58:5

Easy To Read Version

Do you think on those special days for not eating food that all I want is to see people punish their bodies? Do you think I want people to look sad? Do you think I want people to bow their heads like dead plants and wear clothes of sadness? Do you think I want people to sit in ashes to show their sadness? That is what you do on your special days for not eating food. Do you think that is what the Lord wants?

Cross References

2 Kings 6:30

When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes {to show he was upset}. As the king passed by on the wall, the people saw the king was wearing under his clothes the rough cloth {that showed he was sad and upset}.

2 Chronicles 20:3

Jehoshaphat became afraid, and he decided to ask the Lord what to do. He announced a time of fasting {\cf2\super [223]} for everyone in Judah.

Ezra 10:6

Then Ezra went away from the front of God’s house. Ezra went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While Ezra was there, he didn’t eat food, and he didn’t drink water. He did that because he was still very sad. He was very sad about the people of Israel that came back to Jerusalem.

Ezra 8:21

There near the Ahava River, I (Ezra) announced that we all should fast. {\cf2\super [53]} We should fast to make ourselves humble before our God. We wanted to ask God for a safe trip for ourselves, our children, and for all the things we owned.

Esther 4:3

In every province where the king’s command had come, there was much crying and sadness among the Jews. They were fasting {\cf2\super [13]} and crying loudly. Many Jews were lying on the ground dressed in clothes of sadness with ashes on their heads.

Job 2:8

So Job sat near the garbage piles. He used a piece of broken pottery to scrape his sores.

Psalm 69:13

As for me, this is my prayer to you Lord:\par I want you to accept me!\par God, I want you to answer me with love.\par I know I can trust you to save me.\par

Isaiah 49:8

The Lord says,\par “There will be a special time\par when I show my kindness.\par At that time I will answer your prayers.\par There will be a special day\par when I save you.\par At that time I will help you.\par I will protect you.\par And you will be the proof that I have\par an Agreement with the people.\par The country is destroyed now,\par but you will give that land back\par to the people who own it.\par

Isaiah 58:3

Now those people say, “We stop eating food to show honor to you. Why don’t you see us? We hurt our bodies to show honor to you. Why don’t you notice us?”

Isaiah 61:2

God sent me to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness. God sent me to announce the time when our God will punish evil people. God sent me to comfort sad people.

Leviticus 16:29

“This law will always continue for you: On the tenth {day} of the seventh month, you must not eat food. [297] You must not do any work. None of the travelers or foreigners living in your land can do any work either.

Leviticus 16:31

This day is a very important day of rest for you. You must not eat food. [300] This law will continue forever.

Zechariah 7:5

“Tell the priests and the other people in this country these things: For seventy years you fasted and showed your sadness in the fifth month and in the seventh month. But was that fasting really for me? No!

Matthew 6:16

“When you fast, {\cf2\super [78]} don’t make yourselves look sad. The hypocrites {\cf2\super [79]} do that. Don’t be like the hypocrites. They make their faces look strange to show people that they are fasting. I tell you the truth, those hypocrites already have their full reward.

Luke 4:19

and to announce that the time has come\par for the Lord to show his kindness.”\par \i (Isaiah 61:1-2)\i0 \par

Romans 12:2

Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world. But let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what things are good and pleasing to God and what things are perfect.

1 Peter 2:5

You also are like living stones. God is using you to build a spiritual temple. {\cf2\super [14]} You are to serve God in that temple as holy {\cf2\super [15]} priests. You are to give spiritual sacrifices {\cf2\super [16]} to God that he will accept because of Jesus Christ.