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Isaiah 58 Bible study: The fast that I have chosen
Isaiah 58 turns the fast around. The people ask, "Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?" (58:3). Later the chapter says, "satisfy the afflicted soul" (58:10), and in Hebrew those are the same two words; then "the LORD will … satisfy your soul" (58:11).
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“and the LORD will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters don’t fail.”
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“Isaiah 58:2 says the people delight to draw near to God.”
Is that in Isaiah 58, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
A people who seek daily
Here is what almost everyone misses: the people in this chapter are not staying away. The voice says, "Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways" (58:2), and "They delight to draw near to God" (58:2) (tap delight, draw near). They fast, and they ask why it goes unseen: "Why have we fasted," they say, "and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?" (58:3) (tap fast, afflicted). The answer doesn't tell them to stop fasting. It points to what they do on the day itself: "in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your laborers" (58:3) (tap pleasure), and "you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness" (58:4) (tap strife). Then come four questions: "Is this the fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to humble his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?" (58:5) (tap acceptable).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Isaiah 58
That was a taste
The rest of Isaiah 58 is waiting in Favor
- Whose soul is afflicted?
- Every yoke
- Then, and delight
- Chapter 1 and chapter 58
- Fasting words in other books
- Repairer of the Breach
- 14 questions as you read
- 14 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Isaiah 58 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
צוֹםtsomsay TSOM
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "fasting, fast". Strong's: "a fast", and it says the word comes "from 6684", the verb tsum. The noun is in the chapter four times: "in the day of your fast" (58:3), twice in 58:5, "Is this the fast that I have chosen?" and "Will you call this a fast" (58:5), and "Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen" (58:6). Isaiah has it nowhere else. The verb is here too, in "Why have we fasted" (58:3) and twice in 58:4, "you fast for strife and contention" and "You don’t fast today" (58:4), and Isaiah has the verb nowhere else either. The chapter on Ezra 8 studies the word.
For your group
Isaiah 58 Bible study questions
- 1The people in 58:2 "seek me daily" and "delight to draw near to God", yet they ask, "Why have we fasted … and you don’t see?" (58:3). Why do you think a person can seek God every day and still feel unseen?
- 258:6-7 names the fast in plain deeds: bread for the hungry, a house for the poor, a covering for the naked, not hiding from your own flesh. What do you notice about where the chapter looks for the fast God has chosen?
- 3"call the Sabbath a delight" (58:13), and "then you will delight yourself in the LORD" (58:14). What does delighting in the LORD look like for you?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Isaiah 58 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Your first week is free. After that it's $10 a month per person, the same for everyone, including groups and churches. There are no tiers and nothing extra to unlock.
Can I read Isaiah 58 straight away?
Favor takes the Bible as one story, in order, so you'll reach Isaiah 58 with everything that leads up to it in view. Start from Genesis, or meet Jesus first in the Gospels. You can read the text of any chapter in Favor's Look up whenever you like.
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No. Many people read on their own. If you'd like to read with others, start a Bible study and share one link. Everyone's answers stay private until you meet.
I've never really read the Bible. Is this for me?
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home