“Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You take no notice?” Behold, in the day of your fast you find your desire and are exacting on all your laborers.
Is it such a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?
This shall be a perpetual statute for you so that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble yourselves, and do no work of any kind, whether it is the native citizen or the stranger who sojourns among you.
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,