New King James Version
Isaiah 58:3
3‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers.
Isaiah 58:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)‘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 please and exploit all your workers.
- English Standard Version (ESV)'Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?' Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
- New Living Translation (NLT)‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’ “I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.
Context of Isaiah 58:3
1“Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. 2Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. 4Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. 5Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord?
Read all of Isaiah 58Isaiah 58:3 word by word
לָ֤מָּה צַּ֙מְנוּ֙ וְלֹ֣א רָאִ֔יתָ עִנִּ֥ינוּ נַפְשֵׁ֖נוּ וְלֹ֣א תֵדָ֑ע הֵ֣ן בְּי֤וֹם צֹֽמְכֶם֙ תִּמְצְאוּ־חֵ֔פֶץ וְכָל־עַצְּבֵיכֶ֖ם תִּנְגֹּֽשׂוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Wherefore have we fastedצוּםtsûm · to fastH6684
- and thou seestרָאָהrâ'âh · to see: seeH7200
- have we afflictedעָנָה‛ânâh · to afflictH6031
- our soulנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soul: myselfH5315
- and thou takest no knowledgeיָדַעyâda‛ · to knowH3045
- Behold, in the dayיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
- of your fastצוֹםtsôm tsôm · fastH6685
- ye findמָצָאmâtsâ' · to findH4672
- pleasureחֵ֫פֶץchêphets · pleasureH2656
- and exactנָגַשׂnâgaώ · to oppressH5065
- all your laboursעָצֵב‛âtsêb · workerH6092
Cross-references for Isaiah 58:3
- Numbers 23:4And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”
- Micah 3:9Now hear this, You heads of the house of Jacob And rulers of the house of Israel, Who abhor justice And pervert all equity,
- Zechariah 7:5“Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?
- Malachi 3:14You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God; What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, And that we have walked as mourners Before the Lord of hosts?
- Matthew 20:11And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner,
- Luke 15:29So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.
- Luke 18:9Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
- Leviticus 16:29“This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you.
- Leviticus 23:27“Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.
- Psalms 69:10When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, That became my reproach.
- Daniel 10:2In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.
- Jonah 3:6Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
- Nehemiah 5:7After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, “Each of you is exacting usury from his brother.” So I called a great assembly against them.
- Proverbs 28:9One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.
- Jeremiah 34:9that every man should set free his male and female slave—a Hebrew man or woman—that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage.
- Matthew 18:28“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’
Commentaries on Isaiah 58:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Have we adopted our soul "Have we afflicted our souls" - Twenty-seven MSS. (six ancient) of Dr. Kennicott's, thirty-six of De Rossi's, and two of my own, and the old edition of 1488 have the noun in the plural number, נפשינו naphsheynu, our souls; and so the Septuagint, Chaldee, and Vulgate. This reading is undoubtedly genuine. In the day of your fast ye find pleasure - Fast days are generally called holidays, and holidays are days of idleness and…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3Wherefore have we fasted - They had fasted much, evidently with the expectation of delivering themselves from impending calamities, and securing the divine favor. They are here introduced as saying that they had been disappointed. God had not interposed as they had expected. Chagrined and mortified, they now complain that he had not noticed their very conscientious and faithful regard for the duties of religion. And thou seest not? - All had been in vain…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 3-12Verses 3-12 A fast is a day to afflict the soul; if it does not express true sorrow for sin, and does not promote the putting away of sin, it is not a fast. These professors had shown sorrow on stated or occasioned fasts. But they indulged pride, covetousness, and malignant passions. To be liberal and merciful is more acceptable to God than mere fasting, which, without them, is vain and hypocritical. Many who seem humble in God's house, are hard at home…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3Fasting should be a time of self-deprivation in order to focus on God and pleasing him (Leviticus 16:29; see Zechariah 7:5). However, these people were only interested in pleasing themselves and continuing in their sins.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. Wherefore--the words of the Jews: "Why is it that, when we fast, Thou dost not notice it" (by delivering us)? They think to lay God under obligation to their fasting (Psa 73:13; Mal 3:14). afflicted ... soul--(Le 16:29). Behold--God's reply. pleasure--in antithesis to their boast of having "afflicted their soul"; it was only in outward show they really enjoyed themselves. Gesenius not so well translates, "business." exact ... labours--rather…Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 58:3
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 58
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries