The Prophets on Fasting

(1) Cry aloud, spare not, Lift up they voice like a horn, And declare unto My people their transgression, And to the house of Jacob their sins. (2) Yet 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. (3) ’Wherefore have we fasted, and Thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge?’— Behold, in the day of your fast ye pursue your business, And exact all your labours. (4) Behold, 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. (5) Is 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 bulrush, And to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the LORD? (6) Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the fetters of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And that ye break every yoke? (7) Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, And that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? (8) Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, And thy healing shall spring forth speedily; And thy righteousness shall go before thee, The glory of the LORD shall be thy rearward. (9) Then shalt thou call, and the LORD will answer; Thou shalt cry, and He will say: ‘Here I am.’ If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, The putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedness; (10) And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, And satisfy the afflicted soul; Then shall thy light rise in darkness, And thy gloom be as the noon-day; (11) And the LORD will guide thee continually, And satisfy thy soul in drought, And make strong thy bones; And thou shalt be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. (12) And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places, Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; And thou shalt be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

(12) Yet even now, saith the LORD, Turn ye unto Me with all your heart, And with fasting, and with weeping, and with lamentation; (13) And rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn unto the LORD your God; For He is gracious and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, And repenteth Him of the evil. (14) Who knoweth whether He will not turn and repent, And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a meal-offering and a drink-offering Unto the LORD your God? (15) Blow the horn in Zion, Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; (16) Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children, And those that suck the breasts; Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, And the bride out of her pavilion. (17) Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say: ‘Spare thy people, O LORD, And give not Thy heritage to reproach, That the nations should make them a byword: Wherefore should they say among the peoples: Where is their God?’ (18) Then was the LORD jealous for His land, And had pity on His people. (19) And the LORD answered and said unto His people: ‘Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, And ye shall be satisfied therewith; And I will no more make you a reproach among the nations;

(4) And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he proclaimed, and said: ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.’ (5) And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. (6) And 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. (7) And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: ‘Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing; let them not feed, nor drink water; (8) but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. (9) Who knoweth whether God will not turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?’ (10) And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, which He said He would do unto them; and He did it not.

(9) Now it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD, all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.

(21) So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll; and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes that stood beside the king. (22) Now the king was sitting in the winter-house in the ninth month; and the brazier was burning before him. (23) And it came to pass, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. (24) Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.

(18) Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, tribe by tribe; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.