Isaiah 58:4

"Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Jehovah? Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?"

"Ye fast for strife and contention ..." (Isaiah 58:4). Barnes quoted the Syriac version here which rendered the place, "In the day of your fasting, you indulge your lusts, and draw near to all your idols."[9] The strife and contention associated with those ancient fasts could have been with reference to the "new religion" of the day that the leaders had introduced to replace the old. Also, there could have been instances like that described in Philippians 1:15, in which men actually preached the gospel through envy and strife.

"Ye fast not this day so as to make your voice heard in high ..." (Isaiah 58:4). This means, "You do not keep the day of Atonement, as God has commanded," because that is the only possible day, the observance of which, was able to cause one's voice to be heard "on high." Note too the singular designation of it in the next verse, and the purpose of the day "to afflict the soul." Note also that God is speaking of the "day I have chosen," the day of Atonement being the only fast day God commanded.

"Is it to spread sackcloth and ashes under him ..." (Isaiah 58:5)? The question that follows this question requires a negative answer; and the meaning is that they were sitting on sackcloth and ashes when they required their servants to provide them a feast; and they called that a fast!

Isaiah 58:6 indicates that there were widespread violations of the requirements of social justice, which should have resulted from the "afflictions" and meditations of the day of Atonement; but that day was not being observed in the manner God commanded.