1-2 Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!

face my family Jacob with their sins!

and love studying all about me.

law-abiding, God-honoring.

and love having me on their side.

‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way?

3-5“Well, here’s why:

You drive your employees much too hard.

You fast, but you swing a mean fist.

won’t get your prayers off the ground.

a day to show off humility?

and parade around solemnly in black?

a fast day that I, God, would like?

to break the chains of injustice,

free the oppressed,

What I’m interested in seeing you do is:

inviting the homeless poor into your homes,

being available to your own families.

and your lives will turn around at once.

The God of glory will secure your passage.

You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

9-12“If you get rid of unfair practices,

quit blaming victims,

quit gossiping about other people’s sins,

If you are generous with the hungry

and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,

Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,

your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

I will always show you where to go.

I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—

firm muscles, strong bones.

You’ll be like a well-watered garden,

a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,

rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,

restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,

make the community livable again.

AMEN!