4/2 (四)
以賽亞書 58：3-7
現代文譯本（2019）
3 以色列人問：「假如上主不注意我們，我們何必禁食呢？假如他不察看我們，我們何必自討苦吃呢？」 上主對他們說：「你們一邊禁食，一邊做自己想做的事，而且欺壓工人。
4 你們的禁食使你們更凶暴，以致吵鬧、打架。你們以為這樣的禁食會使我聽你們的禱告嗎？
5 你們禁食的時候，虐待自己，垂頭喪氣，像快凋謝的花朵。你們在地上鋪麻布，撒灰，然後睡在上面。這就是禁食嗎？你們以為我會喜歡這樣的禁食嗎？
6 「我所要的禁食是：解除那欺壓的鎖鍊和不公正的軛，釋放受壓迫的人。
7 要把你們的食物分給飢餓的人；把你們的房屋開放給無家可歸的窮人；拿衣服給赤身露體的人；不要拒絕求助無門的親人。
ESV
3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
《舊約-聖經背景註釋》
禁食 古代近東地區，聖經以外對於禁食的證據並不多。通常是在哀悼的情境下實行。舊約里面禁食在宗教上的用法，多與向神獻上祈求有關。它的原則是該祈求使人極關切其屬靈景況，以致身體上的需要退居幕後。這樣，禁食的行為是一種凈化、在神面前謙卑的過程（詩六十九10，一○二4）。它本身並不是終點，而是一種自我要求的訓練，為更重要的事件作預備。
