Lift up your voice like
a trumpet!
On holy days, the
temples were full. The altars were
overflowing with sacrifices. Week in and
week out, the people of Israel publicly fasted making a great show of what
righteous people they were. They made
loud and noisy prayers all the week long.
But Isaiah looked into
the streets and saw:
The workers were
oppressed, and did not have days of rest
The wealthy people
quarreled and fought amongst themselves
People in the streets
were hungry, and many were without homes.
There were people
without clothing in cold weather
And some rich people
pretended that they did not even know their relatives who were not so rich.
Other people spoke evil
against their neighbours.
And many people with
afflictions were neglected and ignored.
So Isaiah went to the
market place and declared:
Shout out, do not
hold back!
Lift up your voice like
a trumpet!
Announce to my people
their rebellion,
To the house of Jacob
their sins.
Yet day after day they
seek me and delight to know my ways,
As if they were a nation
that practiced righteousness
And did not forsake the
word of God.
Shout out, do not
hold back!
Lift up your voice like
a trumpet!
The people come to the
temples and pray
"Why do we fast,
but God does not see?
Why humble ourselves,
but God does not notice?"
And God replies:
"Look! You serve your own interestd on your fast
days,
And then oppress your
workers!
Look! You fast, only to pick fights among
yourselves!"
Shout out, do not
hold back!
Lift up your voice like
a trumpet!
That kind of fasting
will not make you heard on high!
This is the fast I
choose:
Lose the bonds of
injustice;
Undo the thongs of
oppression;
Let the oppressed go
free;
Break every yoke!
Shout out, do not
hold back!
Lift up your voice like
a trumpet!
Share your bread with
the hungry!
Bring the homeless poor
into your home!
When you see the naked,
cover them!
Do not deny your own kin
in need!
Shout out, do not
hold back!
Lift up your voice like
a trumpet!
If you remove the yoke,
and stop speaking evil
If you share your food
with the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
THEN your light shall
rise in the darkness and your gloom shall be like noonday!
Shout out, do not
hold back!
Lift up your voice like
a trumpet!
God will guide you and
satisfy your needs in the parched places
and make your bones
strong
And you shall be like a
watered garden,
like a spring of water
whose waters never fail!
Shout out, do not
hold back!
Lift up your voice like
a trumpet!
