Jehovah strips the religious performance from Israel and names the fast He actually chose. The people seek Him daily, delight in ordinances, fast and afflict the soul — yet exact their labors, contend, and strike with the fist of wickedness. The chosen fast looses the bands of wickedness, undoes heavy burdens, frees the oppressed, breaks every yoke, feeds the hungry, covers the naked, and does not hide from one's own flesh. Then the light breaks forth as the morning, the glory of Jehovah becomes the rearward, and the answer comes: Here I am. The covenant return follows — repairer of the breach, restorer of paths, builder of old waste places, fed with the heritage of Jacob. The Sabbath kept as delight is the hinge, marking the gathered remnant who rebuild Zion's foundations.