Read Isaiah 58 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraph:
58:1-14 {p} The fast which YHVH chooses: true, not false, righteousness
The Chiastic structure:
There is a translation issue in Isa 58 (I have found whenever I read something in Isaiah that doesn’t make sense, there is a translation issue behind it):
“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable …” Isa 58:13a NKJV
This doesn’t make sense in English. “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath … and call it a delight, and honorable …” In English, the two clauses seem contradictory. Why would you call something honorable that you have turned away from?
“If you restrain your foot because of the Sabbath, from doing your own desire on My holy day…” Isa 58:13a,
– Hebrew Masoretic text with preserved grammar and vocabulary translated into English
“Your foot” when not referring to the body part, is a Hebrew idiom for the way a person conducts their life. Living life is seen as walking along a path or walking in the way. If because of the Sabbath, you restrain your foot from pursuing your own business … now the sentence makes perfect sense in English. What a difference a preposition makes!
If there are questions, this is a good resource:
Isaiah 58 and the Day of Atonement – Christine Miller
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