True Fasts and Sabbaths

1And therfore crie now, as loude as thou canst. Leaue not of, lift vp thy voyce like a tropet, and shewe my people their offences, and ye house of Iacob their synnes.

2For they seke me dalye, and wil knowe my wayes, euen as it were a people that dyd right, and had not forsaken the statutes of their God. They argue with me concernynge right iudgment, and wil pleate at the lawe with their God.

3Wherfore fast we (saye they) and thou seist it not? we put oure liues to straitnesse, and thou regardest it not?

4Beholde, when ye fast, youre lust remayneth still: for ye do no lesse violence to youre detters: lo, ye fast to strife and debate, and to smyte him with youre fist, that speaketh vnto you. Ye fast not (as somtyme) that youre voyce might be herde aboue.

5Thynke ye this fast pleaseth me, that a ma shulde chasten himself for a daye, and to wryth his heade aboute like an hoke in an hairy cloth, & to lye vpon the earth? Shulde that be called fastinge, or a daye yt pleaseth ye LORDE?

6But this fastinge pleaseth not me, till ye tyme be thou lowse him out of bondage, that is in thy daunger: that thou breake the ooth of wicked bargaynes, that thou let the oppressed go fre, and take from them all maner of burthens.

7It pleaseth not me, till thou deale thy bred to the hongrie, & brynge the poore fatherlesse home in to thy house, when thou seist the naked that thou couer him, and hyde not thy face fro thine owne flesh.

8Then shal thy light breake forth as ye mornynge, and thy health florish right shortly: thy rightuousnesse shal go before the, and ye glory of the LORDE shal embrace the.

9Then yf thou callest, the LORDE shal answere the: yf thou criest, he shal saye: here I am. Yee yf thou layest awaye thy burthens, and holdest thy fyngers, and ceasest from blasphemous talkinge,

10yf thou hast compassion vpon the hongrie, and refresshest ye troubled soule: Then shal thy light springe out in the darknesse, and thy darknesse shalbe as the noone daye.

11The LORDE shal euer be thy gyde, and satisfie the desyre of thine hert, and fyl yi bones with marry. Thou shalt be like a freshwatred garden, and like the founteyne of water, that neuer leaueth runnynge.

12Then the places that haue euer bene waist, shalbe buylded of the: there shalt thou laye a foundacion for many kynreds. Thou shalt be called the maker vp of hedges, and ye buylder agayne of ye waye of the Sabbath.

13Yee yf thou turne thy fete from the Sabbath, so that thou do not the thinge which pleaseth thyself in my holy daye: then shalt thou be called vnto the pleasaunt, holy & glorious Sabbath of the LORDE, where thou shalt be in honor: so yt thou do not after thine owne ymaginacion, nether seke thine owne wil, ner speake thine owne wordes.

14The shalt thou haue yi pleasure in ye LORDE, which shal carie ye hie aboue ye earth, & fede the wt the heretage of Iacob thy father: for the LORDES owne mouth hath so promised.