Daily Bible Verse Deception

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Isaiah 58:8

I recently subscribed to a daily Bible verse account on Instagram. The site posts an encouraging verse, then 500 people comment “Amen”. This is similar to devotionals and other daily scripture tools that will take a verse completely out of context to give everyone reading false hope. In this example, Isaiah 58:9 was the verse. Only the text of the verse is shown in the Instagram picture with no chapter or book.

Let’s read the verse in context now.

Isa 58:6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Isa 58:7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Isa 58:8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Isa 58:9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
Isa 58:10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
Isa 58:11 And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Isa 58:12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.
Isa 58:13 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
Isa 58:14 then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

At first I thought that perhaps the person posting this was encouraging people to read the verse in context, but then I realized there was not any reference provided for this scripture. Most people were commenting “amen” to the “then” statement seemingly having no care of the “if” statement in the preceding verses. My question is, does anyone who typed amen also agree with the rest of the chapter, or for that matter, the entire book of Isaiah? Does the person posting these types of out of context verses know what is being spoken about? I am only using this as an example because I see this repeatedly.

The start of chapter 58 is likely referring to the fast usually done on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur.

Isa 58:1 “Call with the throat; you must not keep back! lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their rebellion, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
Isa 58:2 Yet they seek me day by day, and they desire the knowledge of my ways like a nation that practiced righteousness, and had not forsaken the judgment of its God; they ask me for righteous judgments, they desire the closeness of God.
Isa 58:3 ‘Why do we fast, and you do not see it? We humiliate our soul, and you do not notice it?’ Look! You find delight on the day of your fast, and you oppress all your workers!
Isa 58:4 Look! You fast to quarrel and strife, and to strike with a wicked fist. You shall not fast as you do today, to make your voice heard on the height.

Yahweh’s complaint against His people is basically they do what is right in their own eyes and wonder why He doesn’t listen. The sum of the instructions of God is to love Him with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself. The proper way to “afflict” yourselves on the Day of Atonement is the following:

Isa 58:6 Is this not the fast I choose: to release the bonds of injustice, to untie the ropes of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and tear every yoke to pieces?
Isa 58:7 Is it not to break your bread for the hungry? You must bring home the poor, the homeless. When you see the naked, you must cover him, and you must not hide yourself from your relatives.

Jesus, whose name is Yeshua in Hebrew, said something similar.

Mat 25:34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!
Mat 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me as a guest,
Mat 25:36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you cared for me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

We could argue that this is not just talking about physical food, drink, clothing and hospitality, but also sharing these things spiritually.

Joh 6:54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
Joh 6:55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Joh 6:56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
Joh 6:57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
Joh 6:58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

The first part of Isaiah 58 is addressing the tradition of fasting on the Day of Atonement. The command for that day doesn’t necessarily involve a fast, albeit a fast is a good thing one can do.

Lev 23:26 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 23:27 “Surely the Day of Atonement is on the tenth day of the seventh month; it shall be a holy assembly for you, and you shall deny yourselves, and you shall present an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
Lev 23:28 And you must not do any regular work on this very same day, because it is the Day of Atonement to make atonement for you before Yahweh your God.
Lev 23:29 If there is any person who does not deny himself on this very same day, then he shall be cut off from his people.
Lev 23:30 As for any person who does any work on this very same day, I will exterminate that person from the midst of his people.
Lev 23:31 You must not do any work; it is a lasting statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
Lev 23:32 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves on the ninth day of the month in the evening—from evening to evening you must observe your extraordinary Sabbath.”

Are we able to assume the person who posted the daily Bible verse quoting Isaiah 58:8 believes in keeping the Day of Atonement properly? How about the 500 people who typed “amen” in the comments? The rest of Isaiah 58 speaks of the Sabbath. The Day of Atonement is a Sabbath, which is specifically kept from the ninth day evening until the tenth day evening. That really leads us to believe that the Israelites were not starting their days in the evening as tradition wants us to believe. If the day started in the evening, then why would it be said to start this sabbath the day before, on the ninth? Let’s look at the rest of Isaiah 58 concerning keeping Sabbaths.

Isa 58:13 If you hold your foot back from the Sabbath, from doing your affairs on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a pleasure, the holy day of Yahweh honorable, if you honor him more than doing your ways, than finding your affairs and speaking a word,
Isa 58:14 then you shall take your pleasure in Yahweh, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth, and I will feed you the heritage of Jacob your ancestor, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

This is another “if -then” statement concerning keeping the Sabbath. Christians do not typically concern themselves with the fourth commandment which is about Sabbath keeping. Would the 500 people who typed “amen” in the comments of this daily Bible verse posted on Instagram agree with Sabbath keeping? I certainly do as a follower of Yeshua.

Out of context Bible verses in daily scripture readings and devotionals are a major source of deception. They twist scripture making people think they will receive the “then” without doing the “if”. What they are really in for is the “else” statement.

Mal 4:1 “For look! The day is about to come, burning like an oven, and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says Yahweh of hosts. “It will not leave behind for them root or branch.
Mal 4:2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise, with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like fattened calves.
Mal 4:3 You will trample down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am going to act,” says Yahweh of hosts.
Mal 4:4 “Remember the instruction of my servant Moses, which I commanded him at Horeb to all Israel, the rules and regulations.

The prophets wrote about the deception that we are witnessing in full force today, which is if you ignore Yahweh’s instructions, you will still reap His blessings. This message cannot be found in scripture. Only the warning that this will be latter day doctrine is found.

Jer 23:16 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “You must not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you with visions of their mind, They do not speak from the mouth of Yahweh.
Jer 23:17 They are continually saying to those who disregard the word of Yahweh, ‘Peace it will be to you,’ and to each one who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’

Jer 23:20 The anger of Yahweh will not turn back until his doing and until his keeping the plans of his mind. In latter days you will look closely at it with understanding.

Read the entirety of scripture and learn what it means. Repent and learn to be obedient to Yahweh as our Saviour Yeshua showed us.

The featured image is by Sarah Noltner on Unsplash.