2. For day after day they seek me out;they seem eager to know my ways,as if they were a nation that does what is rightand has not forsaken the commands of its God.They ask me for just decisionsand seem eager for God to come near them.
3. “Why have we fasted,” they say,“and you have not seen it?Why have we humbled ourselves,and you have not noticed?”‘Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you pleaseand exploit all your workers.
4. Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife,and in striking each other with wicked fists.You cannot fast as you do todayand expect your voice to be heard on high.
5. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,only a day for people to humble themselves?Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reedand for lying in sackcloth and ashes?Is that what you call a fast,a day acceptable to the Lord?