Epistle of Barnabas 3

1Therefore he speaks to them again concerning these things: “Why do you fast for me,” says the Lord, “so that your voice is heard crying aloud today? This is not the fast that I have chosen,” says the Lord, “nor is it a man humbling his soul; not even if you bend your neck like a hoop, put on sackcloth, and make your bed in ashes. Not even then will you call it an acceptable fast. But to us he says, “Behold, this is the fast that I have chosen,” says the Lord: “Loosen every bond of wickedness, untie the tightened cords of forced contracts, send the broken away in freedom, and tear apart every unjust bond. Break your bread for the hungry, and if you see someone naked, clothe him. Bring the homeless into your house, and if you see a humble person, do not despise him, nor anyone of your household and your own offspring. Then your light will break forth in the morning, and your healing will arise quickly. Righteousness will go before your face, and the glory of God will surround you. Then you will cry out, and God will hear you. While you are still speaking, he will say, ‘Behold, I am here,’ if you remove from yourself the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and the word of murmuring; if you give your bread wholeheartedly to the hungry and have pity on the humbled soul.” For this purpose, therefore, my brothers, the one who is patient, foreseeing that the people whom he had prepared in his well-beloved would believe in simplicity, revealed everything to us beforehand, so that we, as novices, might not shipwreck ourselves on their law.