KJV King James Version
Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as [ye do this] day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
VERSE STUDY • KJV
Isaiah 58:4
Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as [ye do this] day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Read it in 5 translations
BSB Berean Standard Bible
You 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.
WEB World English Bible
Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness: you don’t fast this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high.
ASV American Standard Version
Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high.
YLT Young’s Literal Translation
Lo, for strife and debate ye fast, And to smite with the fist of wickedness, Ye fast not as to -day, To sound in the high place your voice.
Surrounding context — Isaiah 58
1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
3 Wherefore have we fasted, [say they], and thou seest not? [wherefore] have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as [ye do this] day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? [is it] to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes [under him]? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
6 [Is] not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
7 [Is it] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Topics connected to this verse
Original-language word links
These Hebrew/Greek tokens are linked by Strong's number. Click one for its lexicon definition and other occurrences.
הֵ֣ןH2005 · henlook!לְרִ֤יבH7379 · rivstrifeוּמַצָּה֙H4683 · mats.tsahstrifeתָּצ֔וּמוּH6684 · tsumto fastוּלְהַכּ֖וֹתH5221 · na.khahto smiteבְּאֶגְרֹ֣ףH106 · eg.rophfistרֶ֑שַׁעH7562 · re.sahwickednessלֹא־H3808 · lonotתָצ֣וּמוּH6684 · tsumto fastכַיּ֔וֹםH3117 · yomdayלְהַשְׁמִ֥יעַH8085 · sha.mato hear: hearבַּמָּר֖וֹםH4791 · ma.romheightקוֹלְכֶֽם׃H6963 · qolvoice
Cross-references
1 Kings 21:9-13And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people:Proverbs 21:27The sacrifice of the wicked [is] abomination: how much more, [when] he bringeth it with a wicked mind?Matthew 6:16-18Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.Isaiah 59:2But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid [his] face from you, that he will not hear.Jonah 3:7And he caused [it] to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:John 18:28Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.Joel 2:13-14And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he [is] gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.Acts 23:1-2And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men [and] brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.Luke 20:47Which devour widows’ houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.Matthew 23:13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in [yourselves], neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.Isaiah 59:6Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works [are] works of iniquity, and the act of violence [is] in their hands.Philippians 1:14-15And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION
Compare classic commentaries on Isaiah 58:4
Put Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, Calvin, Wesley, Barnes, Jamieson–Fausset–Brown, Aquinas’ Catena and other public-domain sources beside the passage.
Compare commentaries →