What Does Isaiah 58:5 Mean in the King James?
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 as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse separates the appearance of humility from the reality of a fast the LORD accepts.
THE MEANING
This verse questions whether visible self-denial, the afflicted living self, the bowed head, the sackcloth and ashes, is the fast the LORD accepts. Its repeated questions expose the gap between outward abasement and the substance of devotion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that visible self-denial, by itself, makes a fast acceptable to the LORD.
THE ROOT
עַנּוֹת
ʿannôt
GROWS FROM
ענה
To press down, humble, or afflict.
“afflict” in this verse is ʿannôt. The verse uses the verb for afflicting alongside the bowed head and sackcloth, making self-affliction part of the visible fast being questioned. The related word תַּעֲנִית (taʿanît, a fast) also comes from this root, linking fasting with affliction without making the two Hebrew words identical.
ALSO GROWS
taʿanît: A fast or day of fasting.
תַּעֲנִית
This related word carries the root of affliction into the language of fasting itself.
ʿānî: Afflicted, lowly, or poor.
עָנִי
It shows the root’s reach from an act of humbling to a person living in a low or afflicted state.
נַפְשׁוֹ
nafshō
GROWS FROM
נפש
The living self or person; life as the person’s own living being.
The KJV’s “soul” here is נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh, the living self), not a detachable inner part. The fast is described as afflicting the person’s own living self, so the question concerns what is being done to the whole person.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: A living self, person, or life.
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the base form behind “his soul,” keeping the verse’s focus on the person as a living whole.
nāphaš: To refresh oneself or rest.
נָפַשׁ
This related verb gives the same consonants a restorative dimension, sharpening the contrast with a fast described here through affliction.
THE PATTERN
A visible sign of devotion is measured by the truth and release it embodies.
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?And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.THE THREAD
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?The next verse repeats the question’s phrase, “the fast that I have chosen,” then defines it through loosening, undoing, and letting go. That turn reveals the measure against which the bowed head and ashes are being tested.
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