8, 9. What positive actions must accompany sincere repentance?

⁸ Jehovah wants his people to do more than fast over their sins; he wants them to repent. Then they will gain his favor. (Ezekiel 18:23, 32) He explains that in order to be meaningful, fasting must be accompanied by a correction of past sins. Consider the heart-searching questions that Jehovah asks: “Is not this the fast that I choose? To loosen the fetters of wickedness, to release the bands of the yoke bar, and to send away the crushed ones free, and that you people should tear in two every yoke bar?”​—Isaiah 58:6.

⁹ Fetters and yoke bars are apt symbols of harsh bondage. So instead of fasting and at the same time oppressing fellow believers, the people ought to obey the command: “You must love your fellow as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18) They should release all whom they have oppressed and unjustly enslaved.a Showy religious acts, such as fasting, are no substitute for genuine godly devotion and acts demonstrating brotherly love. A contemporary of Isaiah, the prophet Micah, writes: “What is Jehovah asking back from you but to exercise justice and to love kindness and to be modest in walking with your God?”​—Micah 6:8.