13 Wherefore brethren, we ought
the more diligently to inquire
after those things that belong
to our salvation, that the
adversary may not have any
entrance into us, and deprive
us of our spiritual life.
14 Wherefore he again speaketh
to them, concerning these things;
Ye shall not fast as ye do this day,
to make your voice to be heard on high.
15 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 like a bulrush, and to spread
sackcloth and ashes under him?
Wilt thou call this a fast, and an
acceptable day to the Lord?
16 But to us he saith on this
wise: Is not this the fast that I
have chosen, to loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens,
and to let the oppressed go free:
and that ye break every yoke?
17 Is it not to deal thy bread
to the hungry, and that thou bring
the poor that are cast out to thy
house? When thou seest the naked
that thou cover him, and that thou
hide not thyself from thy own
flesh.
18 Then shall thy light break
forth as the morning, and thy
health shall spring forth speedily;
and thy righteousness shall go
before thee; the glory of the Lord
shall be thy reward.
19 Then shalt thou call and
the Lord shall answer; thou shalt
cry and he shall say, Here I am;
if thou put away from the midst of
thee the yoke; the putting forth
of the finger, and speaking vanity;
and if thou draw out thy soul to
the hungry; and satisfy the
afflicted soul.
20 In this, therefore, brethren,
God has manifested his foreknowledge
and love for us; because the
people which he has purchased to
his beloved Son were to believe
in sincerity; and therefore he has
shown these things to all of us,
that we should not run as
proselytes to the Jewish Law.
CHAPTER III.