Isaiah 58:5
in Isaiah 58Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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 rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Jehovah?
KJV
Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a 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?
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This verse in Isaiah 58
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Vers. 4, 5.) Do not fast as you do to this day, to make your voice heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? LXX: Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?'
This site's exposition
Why have we fasted, and You have not seen?
on Isaiah 58:3-5
The people ask why God has not seen their fasting, keeping the ritual and expecting the ritual to move God. The answer exposes the fast: “you oppress all your workers”, and they fast “with contention and strife”. Verse 5 asks whether bowing “his head like a reed” is the fast.
This site's exposition
to bow his head like a reed
The words deny himself echo the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16, which Henry cites, where Israel was ordered to afflict their souls. Barnes locates the people's mistake in a belief that going without food earned merit with God. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown set the bowed head beside Matthew 6:17-18.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
If you have fasted two or three days, do not think yourself better than others who do not fast. You fast and are angry; the other eats and wears a smiling face. You work off your irritation and hunger in quarrels. He uses food in moderation and gives God thanks.
You see then that fasting is certainly not considered by the Lord as a thing that is good in its own nature, because it becomes good and pleasing to God not by itself but by in conjunction with other works. Again, in light of surrounding circumstances it may be regarded as not merely vain but actually hateful, as the Lord says: "When they fast, I will not hear their prayers."
The Medieval Church1 voice
1026. Second, he shows the insufficiency of these goods: is this such a fast as I have chosen, for God does not choose your punishment per se, neither as to the affliction of the flesh, which he touches on when he says: for a man …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
(2.) For the humbling and abasing of ourselves. A fast is a day to afflict the soul; if it do not express a genuine sorrow for sin, and do not promote a real mortification of sin, it is not a fast; the law of the day of atonement was that on that day they should afflict their souls, Lev. xvi.
) that will serve; no, it must be the business of our whole lives. It is here required, [1.] That we be just to those with whom we have dealt hardly. The fast that God has chosen consists in reforming our lives and undoing what we have done amiss (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Is it such a fast that I have chosen?....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Is it such a fast that I have chosen? - Is this such a mode of fasting as I have appointed and as I approve? A day for a man to afflict his soul? - Margin, ‘To afflict his soul for a day.’ The reading in the text is the more correct; and the idea is, that the pain and inconvenience experienced by the abstinence from food was not the end in view in fasting. This seems to have been the mistake which they made, that they supposed there was something meritorious in the very pain incurred by such abstinence.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
for a man to afflict his soul--The pain felt by abstinence is not the end to be sought, as if it were meritorious; it is of value only in so far as it leads us to amend our ways (Isa 58:6, 7). bow . . . head . . . sackcloth--to affect the outward tokens, so as to "appear to men to fast" (Mt 6:17, 18;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
20 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲכָזֶ֗ה | hakhazeh | ¿ like this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| יִֽהְיֶה֙ | yihyeh | is it | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| צ֣וֹם | tzom | [the] fast | H6685 → | 26 times |
| אֶבְחָרֵ֔הוּ | ʾevcharehu | [which] I choose it | H977 → | 171 times |
| י֛וֹם | yom | a day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| עַנּ֥וֹת | anot | to humble | H6031 → | 82 times |
| אָדָ֖ם | ʾadam | anyone | H120 → | 551 times |
| נַפְשׁ֑וֹ | nafsho | self his | H5315 → | 754 times |
| הֲלָכֹ֨ף | halakhof | ¿ to bend down | H3721 → | |
| כְּאַגְמֹ֜ן | keagmon | like a bulrush | H100 → | 5 times |
| רֹאשׁ֗וֹ | rosho | head his | H7218 → | 599 times |
| וְשַׂ֤ק | vesak | and sackcloth | H8242 → | 49 times |
| וָאֵ֙פֶר֙ | vaefer | and ash[es] | H665 → | 22 times |
| יַצִּ֔יעַ | yatzia' | he spreads as a bed | H3331 → | |
| הֲלָזֶה֙ | halazeh | ¿ <the> <to> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| תִּקְרָא־ | tikra'- | do you call | H7121 → | 733 times |
| צ֔וֹם | tzom | a fast | H6685 → | 26 times |
| וְי֥וֹם | veyom | and a day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| רָצ֖וֹן | ratzon | acceptance | H7522 → | 56 times |
| לַיהוָֽה׃ | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
הֲכָזֶ֗ה¿ like this
hakhazehH2088 →1180 times
יִֽהְיֶה֙is it
yihyehH1961 →3559 times
צ֣וֹם[the] fast
tzomH6685 →26 times
אֶבְחָרֵ֔הוּ[which] I choose it
ʾevcharehuH977 →171 times
י֛וֹםa day
yomH3117 →2304 times
עַנּ֥וֹתto humble
anotH6031 →82 times
אָדָ֖םanyone
ʾadamH120 →551 times
נַפְשׁ֑וֹself his
nafshoH5315 →754 times
הֲלָכֹ֨ף¿ to bend down
halakhofH3721 →
כְּאַגְמֹ֜ןlike a bulrush
keagmonH100 →5 times
רֹאשׁ֗וֹhead his
roshoH7218 →599 times
וְשַׂ֤קand sackcloth
vesakH8242 →49 times
וָאֵ֙פֶר֙and ash[es]
vaeferH665 →22 times
יַצִּ֔יעַhe spreads as a bed
yatzia'H3331 →
הֲלָזֶה֙¿ <the> <to> this
halazehH2088 →1180 times
תִּקְרָא־do you call
tikra'-H7121 →733 times
צ֔וֹםa fast
tzomH6685 →26 times
וְי֥וֹםand a day of
veyomH3117 →2304 times
רָצ֖וֹןacceptance
ratzonH7522 →56 times
לַיהוָֽה׃to Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Isaiah 49:8This is what the LORD says: “In the time of favor I will answer You, and in the day of salvation I will help You; I will keep You and appoint You to be…
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 6:2
For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!
- Isaiah 42:6
“I, the LORD, have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a…
- Psalms 69:13
But my prayer to You, O LORD, is for a time of favor. In Your abundant loving devotion, O God, answer me with Your sure salvation.
- 2 Corinthians 6:2
Through
Isaiah 61:2to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn,
it leads to
- Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
- Isaiah 34:8
For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
- Matthew 5:4
Through
Esther 4:16“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast…
it leads to
- Acts 20:24
But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus—the ministry of testifying to the good…
- 2 Chronicles 20:3
Jehoshaphat was alarmed and set his face to seek the LORD. And he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.
- Joel 2:12–17
“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
- Acts 20:24
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; Jerome, LETTER 22.37; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 21:14; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.