Daily Devotions · August 24
Reading for August 24
Read the whole Bible in a year, a few chapters a day.
Jeremiah 33–34 · Psalm 74 · 1 John 5
Jeremiah 33–34 · Psalm 74 · 1 John 5, Berean Standard Bible
Jeremiah 33
While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: 2 “Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it, the LORD is His name: 3 Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know. 4 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that have been torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword: 5 The Chaldeans are coming to fight and to fill those places with the corpses of the men I will strike down in My anger and in My wrath. I have hidden My face from this city because of all its wickedness. 6 Nevertheless, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal its people and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. 7 I will restore Judah and Israel from captivity and will rebuild them as in former times. 8 And I will cleanse them from all the iniquity they have committed against Me, and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against Me. 9 So this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I do for it. They will tremble in awe because of all the goodness and prosperity that I will provide for it. 10 This is what the LORD says: In this place you say is a wasteland without man or beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted—inhabited by neither man nor beast—there will be heard again 11 the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the LORD, saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; His loving devotion endures forever.’ For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the LORD. 12 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this desolate place, without man or beast, and in all its cities, there will once more be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. 13 In the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev, in the land of Benjamin and the cities surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD. 14 Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the gracious promise that I have spoken to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause to sprout for David a righteous Branch, and He will administer justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely, and this is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness. 17 For this is what the LORD says: David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 nor will the priests who are Levites ever fail to have a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to present sacrifices.” 19 And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 20 “This is what the LORD says: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night cease to occupy their appointed time, 21 then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant and with My ministers the Levites who are priests, so that David will not have a son to reign on his throne. 22 As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.” 23 Moreover, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 24 “Have you not noticed what these people are saying: ‘The LORD has rejected the two families He had chosen’? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation. 25 This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, 26 then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of My servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivity and will have compassion on them.”
Jeremiah 34
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the earthly kingdoms under his control, and all the other nations were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities. 2 The LORD, the God of Israel, told Jeremiah to go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him that this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down. 3 And you yourself will not escape his grasp, but will surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face; and you will go to Babylon. 4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword; 5 you will die in peace. As spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who preceded you, so people will burn spices for you and lament, ‘Alas, O master!’ For I Myself have spoken this word, declares the LORD.” 6 In Jerusalem, then, Jeremiah the prophet relayed all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah 7 as the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah—against Lachish and Azekah. For these were the only fortified cities remaining in Judah. 8 After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the LORD 9 that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage. 10 So all the officials and all the people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their menservants and maidservants and no longer hold them in bondage. They obeyed and released them, 11 but later they changed their minds and took back the menservants and maidservants they had freed, and they forced them to become slaves again. 12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 13 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying: 14 Every seventh year, each of you must free his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free. But your fathers did not listen or incline their ear. 15 Recently you repented and did what pleased Me; each of you proclaimed freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before Me in the house that bears My Name. 16 But now you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each of you has taken back the menservants and maidservants whom you had set at liberty to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves. 17 Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. So now I proclaim freedom for you, declares the LORD—freedom to fall by sword, by plague, and by famine! I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18 And those who have transgressed My covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces. 19 The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf, 20 I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. 21 And I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon that had withdrawn from you. 22 Behold, I am going to give the command, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
Psalm 74
A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture? 2 Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance—Mount Zion, where You dwell. 3 Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed. 4 Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs, 5 like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees 6 and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks. 7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name. 8 They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land. 9 There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last. 10 How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever? 11 Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them! 12 Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth. 13 You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea; 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert. 15 You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers. 16 The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun. 17 You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter. 18 Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name. 19 Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever. 20 Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. 21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name. 22 Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long. 23 Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
1 John 5
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, 4 because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. 5 Who then overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 6 This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ—not by water alone, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies to this, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement. 9 Even if we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony that God has given about His Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son. 11 And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him. 16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask God, who will give life to those who commit this kind of sin. There is a sin that leads to death; I am not saying he should ask regarding that sin. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, yet there is sin that does not lead to death. 18 We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain.
How to SOAP
Grab a journal and a pen. Read the chapters above and watch for the verse that stops you. Then take it through four steps.
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Scripture
Write out the verse that stood out to you.
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Observation
What is it saying? Who is speaking, and to whom?
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Application
What does it mean for your life today? Be specific.
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Prayer
Talk to God about it. Ask Him to help you live it.
Your SOAP journal
Write your SOAP here. Tap any verse in the reading to add it to Scripture. Your journal saves on this device only, so no one else sees it.
Added to your journal. Go to journal
Why daily devotions?
Devotions are time set aside each day to read God's Word and let Him speak. The point isn't checking off chapters. It's meeting with Him.
Ten or fifteen minutes is enough to start. Pick a time and a place and keep the appointment. Mornings work well for a lot of us, before the phone and the day start talking.
Missed a day? Don't start over. Read today's chapters and keep going.