Bible Strands
Isaiah 58:3
“Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The people address God, asking why He ignores their fasting and self-humiliation, immediately after claiming in Isaiah 58:2 that they daily seek Him and delight in His ways.
The words — צַּמְנוּ (tzam.nu) = have we fasted and עִנִּינוּ ('i.ni.nu) = have we humbled.
The thread — The disconnect between ritual and justice reappears in Malachi 3:14, where questioning the value of serving God mirrors their complaint, and in Proverbs 28:9, where rejecting the law makes religious appeals detestable.
Why it lands — It requires readers to examine whether their religious practices produce ethical treatment of others, noting that God explicitly links His attention to the cessation of oppression rather than the performance of ritual.
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
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Luke 18:9 To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable:
- Proverbs 28:9 Whoever turns his ear away from hearing the law, even his prayer is detestable.
- Malachi 3:14 You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts?
- Matthew 20:11 On receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner.
- Leviticus 16:29 This is to be a permanent statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall humble yourselves and not do any work—whether the native or the foreigner who resides among you—
- Exodus 2:23 After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
- Nehemiah 5:7 and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them
- Daniel 10:2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks.
- Jonah 3:6 When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
- Leviticus 16:31 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, that you may humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute.