Epistle of Barnabas 3

The Fast He Chose: Loose the Bonds of Injustice

← Epistle of Barnabas 2  ·  Epistle of Barnabas: all chapters  ·  Epistle of Barnabas 4 →

The Fast God Chooses

3:1Again He speaks to them about these things: “Why do you fast for Me,” says the Lord, “so that today your voice may be heard in an outcry? I did not choose this fast,” says the Lord, “a person humbling his soul.

3:2“Even if you bend your neck like a ring, put on sackcloth and spread ashes beneath you, even then you shall not call it an acceptable fast.”

3:3But to us He says: “Look, this is the fast I chose,” says the Lord: “Loosen every bond of injustice; undo the constrictions of violent transactions; send the crushed away in freedom, and tear up every unjust contract. Break your bread for the hungry, and if you see someone naked, clothe that person. Bring the homeless into your house. If you see someone brought low, do not overlook that person, nor those of your own family.

3:4“Then your light will break forth early, and your garments will spring up quickly. Righteousness will go before you, and the glory of God will surround you.

3:5“Then you will cry out, and God will hear you. While you are still speaking He will say, ‘Look, I am here’—if you remove from yourself the bond, the pointing finger and the word of grumbling, and from your soul give your bread to the hungry and show mercy to a humbled soul.”

The People Prepared in the Beloved

3:6For this purpose, brothers and sisters, the Patient One foresaw that the people He prepared in His Beloved would believe in integrity. He showed us everything beforehand, so that we might not crash against their law like newcomers.

← Epistle of Barnabas 2  ·  Epistle of Barnabas: all chapters  ·  Epistle of Barnabas 4 →

Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.