Yesaya 1:15

1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I look the other way; ¹ 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ² 

Yesaya 58:4

58:4 Look, your fasting is accompanied by ³  arguments, brawls,

and fistfights. ⁴ 

Do not fast as you do today,

trying to make your voice heard in heaven.

[1:15]  ¹ tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

[1:15]  ² sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.

[58:4]  ³ tn Heb “you fast for” (so NASB); NRSV “you fast only to quarrel.”

[58:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “and for striking with a sinful fist.”