The Last Scribe

Story scene · The Sabbath · Isaiah 58

Isaiah 58 as a game: the fast God chooses and the Sabbath a delight

Hear Isaiah “lift up thy voice like a trumpet” to a people who worshipped every day and still did not care for the poor. Then hear what God asks of them instead, and why He calls His holy day a delight.

Play free Try the quiz questions

No download. Plays in any modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer. Revelation 1 and the Baptism of Jesus are free to try first.

What you will see

One chapter of Isaiah, from the trumpet to the holy day

You arrive as a Scribe, sent to witness the story and write it down. Isaiah 58 is one map you can walk end to end. Isaiah the prophet stands in it, and so does a man who fasted and cannot understand why God took no notice. God is not drawn as a person; you hear His voice answer with the fast He has chosen, and speak of His holy day. Each speaks from their own verses.

Six things wait to be found and read. One tells of the voice lifted like a trumpet, and another of the sackcloth and ashes that were not enough while the workers were treated hard. Then come bread for the hungry and a home for “the poor that are cast out”, the promise that “thou shalt be like a watered garden”, the name given to those who build the old waste places, “The repairer of the breach”, and last the call to name the Sabbath “a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable”.

The quest has seven steps and follows the chapter in order, from the message the prophet was sent with to the reason the Sabbath is called a delight. When you have seen it all, step into the quiz zone and sixteen questions ask what you saw.

The Sabbath Delight in the game: the map of the story with its people standing where the passage puts them
The game itself, not a mock-up: The Sabbath Delight.

The story, in order

The quest, The Fast He Chooses, has seven steps, and they follow the passages in order. Nothing is added to the text; the steps are a way of making sure you miss none of it.

  1. Hear what the prophet was sent to say.
  2. Hear the complaint of a man who fasted.
  3. See why sackcloth and ashes were not enough.
  4. Hear the fast that God has chosen.
  5. Find out who is called the Repairer of the Breach.
  6. Hear what God says of His holy day.
  7. Learn why the Sabbath is called a delight.

Who you meet

Four people and voices stand in the scene. Each speaks only from their own place in the passages.

  • Isaiah the Prophet — the prophet sent to cry aloud and show the people their sins, though they sought God every day.
  • A Man Who Fasted — one of the people, who asks why God has not seen their fast, and tells you how he bowed his head “as a bulrush”.
  • The Voice of the LORD — God’s voice, never a figure on the map, telling you the fast He has chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness and feed the hungry.
  • The LORD of the Sabbath — God’s voice again, speaking of “my holy day” and the promise to those who call it a delight.

What you find

Walk up to any of these and the game reads you the verses it comes from, in the King James Version.

  • Like a Trumpet (Isaiah 58:1–2)
  • Sackcloth and Ashes (Isaiah 58:3–5)
  • Bread for the Hungry (Isaiah 58:6–7)
  • A Watered Garden (Isaiah 58:9–11)
  • The Repairer of the Breach (Isaiah 58:12)
  • Call the Sabbath a Delight (Isaiah 58:13–14)

The verses of the delight

“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” Isaiah 58:13–14, King James Version

Every verse the game quotes is the KJV. Where a character speaks in their own words, the dialogue is written from the passages and checked against our doctrinal rules before release. The about page says plainly how we read the Bible.

Try five of the sixteen

The Sabbath Delight quiz questions, with answers

Five real questions from the The Sabbath Delight quiz, in the game's own words. In the game the options are shuffled every time, and you need 70% to pass.

1. How was Isaiah told to lift up his voice?

  1. Like a whisper
  2. Like a harp
  3. Like thunder
  4. Like a trumpet
Show the answer

D. Like a trumpet “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression.”

Isaiah 58:1

2. For what did God say the people fasted?

  1. For the coming of the Messiah
  2. For the healing of the nation
  3. For rain in its season
  4. For strife and debate
Show the answer

D. For strife and debate “Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness.”

Isaiah 58:4

3. What does God ask His people to share with the hungry?

  1. Their gold
  2. Their bread
  3. Their land
  4. Their weapons
Show the answer

B. Their bread “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out?”

Isaiah 58:7

4. What name will those be called who build the old waste places?

  1. The Builders of Babel
  2. The Keepers of the Gate
  3. The Watchmen of Zion
  4. The Repairer of the Breach
Show the answer

D. The Repairer of the Breach “Thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”

Isaiah 58:12

5. What does God ask His people to call the Sabbath?

  1. A burden
  2. A delight
  3. A duty
  4. A shadow
Show the answer

B. A delight “And call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable.” It is a gift to enjoy, not a load to carry.

Isaiah 58:13

Right answers pay 10 XP each and a perfect score pays 50 more. In a room, everyone answers the same quiz and sees how the others did. More on how the quiz works.

Story facts

14
verses from Isaiah 58, every one covered by something you see, hear or read
16
quiz questions, each tied to a verse
4
people and voices to speak with
6
things to find and read
1–6
players in a room; solo play is fine too
KJV
every verse quoted from the King James Version

How to play it

  1. Open the game in your browser and make an account. A child under 13 gives a parent's email instead of their own, and the parent confirms before the child can play with anyone else; see the page for parents.
  2. Play the short intro story in the Archivery, the library where the Scribe finds the Book. It is free and takes a few minutes.
  3. Open the world map and choose The Sabbath Delight. To play with others, start a room and share its code, which looks like SCRIBE-7K4P2Q; up to six people can join from their own devices.
  4. Walk the map, speak with everyone, read everything, then step into the quiz zone.

Free, and with a subscription

The Sabbath Delight is one of the 14 story scenes, in the series The Sabbath. It is part of the subscription ($9.99 a month or $79.99 a year), and the story scenes are open from the first day of it: they do not wait on the road through the books. See pricing.

Free forever, for every player: the intro story, Revelation 1, the story scene The Baptism of Jesus, and four open lands to walk with other players: the City of the Last Days, the Garden of Eden, Judea in the days of Jesus, and Patmos and the Seven Churches. Revelation 1 is a good first chapter to try before you subscribe.

More to play

  • Before: The Fourth Commandment — Stand at the foot of Mount Sinai with a people just brought “out of the house of bondage”, and hear the law spoken.
  • After: Lord of the Sabbath — Go with Jesus into the synagogue at Nazareth, “as his custom was”, then through the grainfields and into a synagogue where men watch to see whether He will heal.
  • Every chapter and story with a page: the list of what you can play.

Call the Sabbath a delight.

The Sabbath Delight takes about twenty minutes alone, a little longer with friends in a room.

Start with the free chapters