Isaiah 58:3

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 King James Version (NKJV)‘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.

Context of Isaiah 58:3

1Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins. 2Yet 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 righteous ordinances, they delight to draw near unto God. 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 your own pleasure, and exact all your labours. 4Behold, 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. 5Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

Isaiah 58:3 word by word

לָ֤מָּה צַּ֙מְנוּ֙ וְלֹ֣א רָאִ֔יתָ עִנִּ֥ינוּ נַפְשֵׁ֖נוּ וְלֹ֣א תֵדָ֑ע הֵ֣ן בְּי֤וֹם צֹֽמְכֶם֙ תִּמְצְאוּ־חֵ֔פֶץ וְכָל־עַצְּבֵיכֶ֖ם תִּנְגֹּֽשׂוּ׃Read the interlinear

• weיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• fastedצוּםtsûm · to fastH6684
• notלֹאlô' lô' lôh · notH3808
• soulנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soulH5315
• knowledgeיָדַעyâda‛ · to knowH3045
• Beholdהֵןhên · look!H2005
• dayיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• fastצוֹםtsôm tsôm · fastH6685
• findמָצָאmâtsâ' · to findH4672
• pleasureחֵ֫פֶץchêphets · pleasureH2656
• exactנָגַשׂnâgaώ · to oppressH5065
• allכֹּלkôl kôl · allH3605

Cross-references for Isaiah 58:3

• Numbers 23:4And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.
• Micah 3:9Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
• Zechariah 7:5Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month, even these seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?
• Malachi 3:14Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
• Matthew 20:11And when they received it, they murmured against the householder,
• Luke 15:29But he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
• Luke 18:9And he spake also this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought:
• Leviticus 16:29And it shall be a statute for ever unto you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and shall do no manner of work, the homeborn, or the stranger that sojourneth among you:
• Leviticus 23:27Howbeit on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
• Psalms 69:10When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.
• Daniel 10:2In those days I Daniel was mourning three whole weeks.
• Jonah 3:6And the tidings reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
• Nehemiah 5:7Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I held a great assembly against them.
• Proverbs 28:9He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
• Jeremiah 34:9that every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother:
• Matthew 18:28But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him a hundred pence: and he laid hold on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay what thou owest.

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

• Fasting
• Hypocrisy
• Presumption
• Unbelief

In the dictionaries

• Aloud
• Light
• Abstinence
• Commentaries
• Exact
• Guilt
• Isaiah
• Saviour

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