Isaiah 58:13

If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath, from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable, if you honor it by not going your own way or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The LORD speaks through Isaiah to His people, correcting their hollow fasting (ch. 58) and redirecting their observance toward genuine devotion. The immediate context moves from rebuilding ruins (v. 12) to the promise of delight in the LORD (v. 14).

The words — רַגְל (rag.Leh, "foot") makes the turning-away physical and concrete: you shift your body, not merely your mind. חֲפָץ (cha.fa.Tz, "pleasure, desire") marks what the Sabbath is not to be: a day for your own agenda.

The thread — Jeremiah 17:21 prohibits carrying loads through Jerusalem's gates on the Sabbath; Psalm 92:1 designates the day for praise; Isaiah 56:2 blesses the one who "holds fast" the Sabbath without profaning it.

Why it lands — The verse asks you to subtract, not add: stop routing the day through your own pleasure and idle talk. The test is whether the Sabbath has been reoriented from "my day" to "the LORD's holy day."

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

אִם־'im-if תָּשִׁ֤יבta.Shivyou will turn back מִשַּׁבָּת֙mi./sha.Batfrom/ [the] sabbath רַגְלֶ֔ךָrag.Le./khafoot/ your עֲשׂ֥וֹתa.Sotto do חֲפָצֶ֖יךָcha.fa.Tzei./khapleasures/ your בְּי֣וֹםbe./Yomon/ [the] day of קָדְשִׁ֑יkod.sh/iholiness/ my וְקָרָ֨אתָve./ka.Ra.taand/ you will call לַשַּׁבָּ֜תla./sha.Bat<to> the/ sabbath עֹ֗נֶג'O.nega delight לִקְד֤וֹשׁli/k.Do.osh<to>/ [the] holy [day] of יְהוָה֙Yah.wehYahweh מְכֻבָּ֔דme.khu.Badhonorable וְכִבַּדְתּוֹ֙ve./khi.bad.T/oand/ you will honor/ it מֵעֲשׂ֣וֹתme./'a.Sotfrom/ doing דְּרָכֶ֔יךָde.ra.Khei./khaown ways/ your מִמְּצ֥וֹאmi./me.Tzo'from/ finding חֶפְצְךָ֖chef.tze./Khapleasure/ your וְדַבֵּ֥רve./da.Berand/ to speak דָּבָֽר׃da.Vara word

King James Version

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

Cross-references

Jeremiah 17:21 This is what the LORD says: Take heed for yourselves; do not carry a load or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.
Psalms 92:1 A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath day. It is good to praise the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High,
Isaiah 56:2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
Nehemiah 13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them against selling food on that day.
Revelation 1:10 On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Psalms 84:10 For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
Exodus 31:13 “Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep My Sabbaths, for this will be a sign between Me and you for the generations to come, so that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
Deuteronomy 5:12 Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.
Psalms 84:2 My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.