1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Isaiah 58:1 | Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their wicked doings, and the house of Jacob their sins. | Sins. During the captivity, ver. 11. (St. Thomas Aquinas) --- Some will not hear, and those must be rebuked with all patience, till they follow virtue. (Worthington) |
| Isaiah 58:2 | For they seek me from day to day, and desire to know my ways, as a nation that hath done justice, and hath not forsaken the judgment of their God: they ask of me the judgments of justice: they are willing to approach to God. | Approach, and contend with God, scrutinizing his conduct, (Proverbs 25:27.) and doing good for the sake of applause and self-interest. |
| Isaiah 58:3 | Why have we fasted, and thou hast not regarded: why have we humbled our souls, and thou hast not taken notice? Behold, in the day of your fast, your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors. | Will. This alone suggested their fasts, and they did not shew compassion, Ezechiel 7:2. (Calmet) --- Debtors, who are not able to pay. (St. Jerome) (Deuteronomy 24:12.) |
| Isaiah 58:4 | Behold, you fast for debates and strife, and strike with the fist wickedly. Do not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry to be heard on high. | Strife. The usual works were interrupted. The Church formerly forbade law-suits on fast-days. --- Fist. Matthew 18:28. --- Wickedly. Septuagint, "the humble." |
| Isaiah 58:5 | *Is this such a fast as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a day? is this it, to wind his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? Zacharias 7:5. | Circle. They affected extreme debility, Matthew 6:16. (Calmet) --- Ashes. These external marks of penance are not condemned, but the want of corresponding sentiments. (Haydock) --- Protestants would hence infer that fasting from flesh is not requisite, or a religious worship. But St. Jerome shews the contrary, provided it be joined with the observance of other commandments, as the saints and Christ himself have shewn us. (Worthington) |
| Isaiah 58:6 | Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken, go free, and break asunder every burden. | Bands. Contracts of usury, etc. (Calmet) |
| Isaiah 58:7 | *Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh. Ezechiel 18:7.; Ezechiel 18:16.; Matthew 25:35. | Deal. Literally, "break." (Haydock) --- Thin cakes are still used in the East. --- Flesh, or relation, Genesis 37:27. |
| Isaiah 58:8 | Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up. | Light. Prosperity, (Calmet) or Saviour. (Haydock) --- Matthew 4:2., and John 1:8. (Calmet) --- Health. Aquila, "the scar of thy wound shall soon be covered." (St. Jerome) --- Up. He shall close the rear, like the angel in the cloud, Exodus 13:21., and 14:19. He will grant thee rest from bondage in the grave and in heaven. (Calmet) |
| Isaiah 58:9 | Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not. | Finger, contemptuously, or threatening. (St. Jerome) --- Some explain it of the ordaining sacred ministers, or taking another's property. |
| Isaiah 58:10 | When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noon-day. | Soul, effectually, and with love relieving the distressed. (Calmet) |
| Isaiah 58:11 | And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of waters, whose water shall not fail. | Fail. Alexandrian Septuagint adds, "and thy bones as a flower shall spring and grow fat, and shall inherit ages of ages." St. Jerome says this is not in the best copies. (Haydock) |
| Isaiah 58:12 | *And the places that have been desolate for ages, shall be built in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundations of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the repairer of the fences, turning the paths into rest. Isaias 61:4. | Generation. As the Jews did not comply with the condition, the Church falls heir to these promises. |
| Isaiah 58:13 | If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy own will in my holy day, and call the sabbath delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify him, while thou dost not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found, to speak a word: | Sabbath, doing no work, or refraining from the violation of festivals. --- Delightful. We must not think the sabbath of the Lord a loss: (Amos 8:5.) but rejoice in praising him, Psalm 45:11. (Calmet) --- A word, or to apply to God's word. (Grotius) --- Pious reading on holidays is the duty of all who have an opportunity. (Haydock) |
| Isaiah 58:14 | Then shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob, thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. | Earth. Judea. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "upon the good things of the land." (Haydock) |