Isaiah 58:1-5 "Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!

(Isaiah 58:1-5)
“Shout out, do not hold back!
  Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
  to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
  and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
  and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
  they delight to draw near to God.
‘Why do we fast, but you do not see?
  Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day,
  and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
  and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
  will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
  a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
  and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
  a day acceptable to the Lord?”

Comment:

Your question was just about verse 1, but I don't think you can begin to understand the first verse without considering the full first statement. The people have been complaining that although they go through all the proper religious observances—especially sacrifice and fasting—God isn't responding to their prayers. Through the prophet the Voice for God responds that simply going through the motions isn't enough. "Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist." It's a powerful and important spiritual lesson for us today: the Power of God responds not to what we do, but to the consciousness with which we do it. Outward forms and observances are meaningless without an inner commitment—and an energy of love. The Voice for God goes on to describe what would be acceptable: "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?" (Isaiah 58:6). This spiritual awareness would later become the very heart of the message of Jesus Christ: superficial religious observance accomplishes nothing; only choices made from infinite love and compassion can express our Oneness with the Power of God.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed