Isaiah 58:13
in Isaiah 58If 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,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of Jehovah honorable; and shalt honor it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
KJV
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:
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This verse in Isaiah 58
Commentary
10 notes on this verse(Verse 13.) If you turn your foot away from the Sabbath, and do your own will on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and holy to the glorious Lord, and honor him by not doing your own ways, nor finding your own will, nor speaking idle words. LXX: If you turn your foot away on the Sabbaths, so as not to do your own desires on the holy day.
This site's exposition
If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath
on Isaiah 58:13-14
The Sabbath asks what the fast asked, self-interest set aside: “If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath”. The command is also positive, to “call the Sabbath a delight”. “I will make you ride on the heights of the land” uses the blessing on Jacob at Deuteronomy 32:13.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
"If you call the sabbath a delight," in other words, you honor it for the banquets and the drinks, finding your joy on that day as if it were a party. "If you honor it, not following your will or speaking any word." Indeed, it …
1033. If you turn away your foot from the sabbath. Here he sets out counsel as to the worship of religious duty in the observation of the sabbath. And first, he sets out the counsel: if you turn away your foot, lest you do prohibited …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
We must call it holy, separated from common use and devoted to God and to his service, must call it the holy of the Lord, the day which he has sanctified to himself. Even in Old-Testament times the sabbath was called the Lord's day, and therefore it is fitly called so still, and for a further reason, because it is the Lord Christ's day, Rev. i.
A Charge against the People. 1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and 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 the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:93%@v1-3
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath,.... From walking and working on that day; or withdrawest thy mind and affections from all worldly things; the affections being that to the mind as the feet are to the body, which carry it here and there.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The Sabbath, even under the new dispensation, was to be obligatory (Isa 66:23). foot--the instrument of motion (compare Pr 4:27); men are not to travel for mere pleasure on the Sabbath (Ac 1:12). The Jews were forbidden to travel on it farther than the tabernacle or temple. If thou keep thy foot from going on thy own ways and "doing thy pleasure," &c.
If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath - The meaning of this seems to be, that they should be careful not to take their pleasure on the Sabbath day, by paying visits, and taking country jaunts; not going, as Kimchi interprets it, more than a Sabbath day’s journey, which was only two thousand cubits beyond the city’s suburbs. How vilely is this rule transgressed by the inhabitants of this land! They seem to think that the Sabbath was made only for their recreation! From doing thy pleasure - The Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee, for עשות asoth, manifestly express מעשות measoth. So likewise a MS. has it, but with the omission of the words שבת רגלך shabbath raglecha. - L. The holy of the Lord “And the holy feast of Jehovah” - Twenty-eight MSS. (seven ancient) add the conjunction ו vau, ולקדוש velikedosh; and so the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate. One of my own has the same reading. Nor speaking thine own words “From speaking vain words” - It is necessary to add some epithet to make out the sense; the Septuagint say, angry words; the Chaldee, words of violence. If any such epithet is lost here, the safest way is to supply it by the prophet’s own expression, Isa 58:9, ודבר און vedabar aven, vain words; that is, profane, impious, injurious, etc. “The additional epithet seems unnecessary; the Vulgate and Syriac have it not; and the sense is good without it; two ways, first by taking ודבר vedabar for a noun, and דבר dabur for the participle pahul, and rendering, - ‘From pursuing thy pleasure, and the thing resolved on.’ Or, secondly, by supposing the force of the preposition מ mem to have been continued from the verb ממצוא mimmetso to the verb ודבר vedabber immediately following; and rendering, - ‘From executing thy pleasure, and from speaking words concerning it.’ But the first seems the easier rendering.” Dr. Jubb.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath - The evident meaning of this is, that they were sacredly to observe the Sabbath, and not to violate or pollute it (see the notes at Isa 56:2). The idea, says Grotius, is, that they were not to travel on the Sabbath day on ordinary journeys. The ‘foot’ is spoken of as the instrument of motion and travel. ‘Ponder the paths of thy feet’ Pro 4:26; that is, observe attentively thy goings. ‘Remove thy foot from evil’ Pro 4:27; that is, abstain from evil, do not go to execute evil.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
the heritage of Jacob your father An inheritance without boundaries, as it is said (Gen.: 14): “And you shall spread to the west and to the east, etc.” Not like Abraham, about whom it is stated (ibid.:15): “The land that you see..
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
21 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| תָּשִׁ֤יב | tashiv | you will turn back | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| מִשַּׁבָּת֙ | mishabat | from [the] sabbath | H7676 → | 110 times |
| רַגְלֶ֔ךָ | raglekha | foot your | H7272 → | 247 times |
| עֲשׂ֥וֹת | asot | to do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| חֲפָצֶ֖יךָ | chafatzeikha | pleasures your | H2656 → | 39 times |
| בְּי֣וֹם | beyom | on [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| קָדְשִׁ֑י | kodshi | holiness my | H6944 → | 469 times |
| וְקָרָ֨אתָ | vekarata | and you will call | H7121 → | 733 times |
| לַשַּׁבָּ֜ת | lashabat | <to> the sabbath | H7676 → | 110 times |
| עֹ֗נֶג | ʾoneg | a delight | H6027 → | |
| לִקְד֤וֹשׁ | likdoosh | <to> [the] holy [day] of | H6918 → | 116 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מְכֻבָּ֔ד | mekhubad | honorable | H3513 → | 113 times |
| וְכִבַּדְתּוֹ֙ | vekhibadto | and you will honor it | H3513 → | 113 times |
| מֵעֲשׂ֣וֹת | measot | from doing | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| דְּרָכֶ֔יךָ | derakheikha | own ways your | H1870 → | 707 times |
| מִמְּצ֥וֹא | mimetzo' | from finding | H4672 → | 455 times |
| חֶפְצְךָ֖ | cheftzekha | pleasure your | H2656 → | 39 times |
| וְדַבֵּ֥ר | vedaber | and to speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| דָּבָֽר׃ | davar | a word | H1697 → | 1440 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
תָּשִׁ֤יבyou will turn back
tashivH7725 →1056 times
מִשַּׁבָּת֙from [the] sabbath
mishabatH7676 →110 times
רַגְלֶ֔ךָfoot your
raglekhaH7272 →247 times
עֲשׂ֥וֹתto do
asotH6213 →2628 times
חֲפָצֶ֖יךָpleasures your
chafatzeikhaH2656 →39 times
בְּי֣וֹםon [the] day of
beyomH3117 →2304 times
קָדְשִׁ֑יholiness my
kodshiH6944 →469 times
וְקָרָ֨אתָand you will call
vekarataH7121 →733 times
לַשַּׁבָּ֜ת<to> the sabbath
lashabatH7676 →110 times
עֹ֗נֶגa delight
ʾonegH6027 →
לִקְד֤וֹשׁ<to> [the] holy [day] of
likdooshH6918 →116 times
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מְכֻבָּ֔דhonorable
mekhubadH3513 →113 times
וְכִבַּדְתּוֹ֙and you will honor it
vekhibadtoH3513 →113 times
מֵעֲשׂ֣וֹתfrom doing
measotH6213 →2628 times
דְּרָכֶ֔יךָown ways your
derakheikhaH1870 →707 times
מִמְּצ֥וֹאfrom finding
mimetzo'H4672 →455 times
חֶפְצְךָ֖pleasure your
cheftzekhaH2656 →39 times
וְדַבֵּ֥רand to speak
vedaberH1696 →1141 times
דָּבָֽר׃a word
davarH1697 →1440 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 1:10On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
it leads to
- Revelation 21:10
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
- 2 Corinthians 12:2–4
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows.
- Revelation 4:1–2
After this I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had previously heard speak to me like a trumpet was saying, “Come up here, and I will show…
- Revelation 17:3
And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, where I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten…
- Acts 20:7
On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Since Paul was ready to leave the next day, he talked to them and kept on speaking until midnight.
- Revelation 21:10
Where this verse is studied
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About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 58:13; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.