[1] This chapter contains a proclamation regarding "fasting that pleases God".

[3] Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (3rd century BCE or later): There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE.

Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B;

[4] The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.

In some versions, "the old waste places" is translated as "ancient ruins": John Skinner, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, suggests that "the description of the ruins as 'ancient' suggests a period considerably later than the Exile (which only lasted half a century), although the argument is not one that can be rigorously pressed".