Isaiah 58:13 - Exposition

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath ; i.e. treat it with reverence, as if it were "holy ground" ( Exodus 3:5 ; Proverbs 4:27 ). From doing thy pleasure; rather, from doing thy business— the same expression as in Isaiah 58:3 . It is by "business," not by pleasure, that the sabbath was polluted both in the time of Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 17:21-23 ) and of Nehemiah ( Nehemiah 10:31 , etc.). And call the sabbath a delight. This is the spiritualization of the sabbath—"to call" and feel it "a delight," a real satisfaction to the soul, not a weariness ( Amos 8:5 ), as it was to many. And shalt honour him; rather, and shalt honour it; i.e. the sabbath, which is made masculine here, as in Isaiah 56:2 . The sabbath was to be honoured by men not pursuing their own ordinary ways, or engaging in their regular business, or even carrying on their ordinary everyday talk. Literally, the command is, not to "speak words;" but no Jews were ever such strict sabbatarians as to understand this as prohibiting all speech on the sabbath. Some have held that sabbatical talk should be scanty, limited, restrained as much as possible; but even for this there is no warrant. It is the quality, rather than the quantity, of the words uttered that is of real importance.