Daily Devotions · August 9
Reading for August 9
Read the whole Bible in a year, a few chapters a day.
Jeremiah 3–4 · John 11
Jeremiah 3–4 · John 11, Berean Standard Bible
Jeremiah 3
“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD. 2 “Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness. 3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed. 4 Have you not just called to Me, ‘My Father, You are my friend from youth. 5 Will He be angry forever? Will He be indignant to the end?’ This you have spoken, but you keep doing all the evil you can.” 6 Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there. 7 I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well. 9 Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10 Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD. 11 And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah. 12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever. 13 Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice,’” declares the LORD. 14 “Return, O faithless children,” declares the LORD, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” 16 “In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance. 19 Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me. 20 But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. 21 A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God. 22 “Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God. 23 Surely deception comes from the hills, and commotion from the mountains. Surely the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God. 24 From our youth, that shameful god has consumed what our fathers have worked for—their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth even to this day we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
Jeremiah 4
“If you will return, O Israel, return to Me,” declares the LORD. “If you will remove your detestable idols from My sight and no longer waver, 2 and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by Him, and in Him they will glory.” 3 For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among the thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it, because of your evil deeds.” 5 Announce in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: “Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land. Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves and let us flee to the fortified cities.’ 6 Raise a signal flag toward Zion. Seek refuge! Do not delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, and terrible destruction. 7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited. 8 So put on sackcloth, mourn and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.” 9 “In that day,” declares the LORD, “the king and officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be astounded.” 10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, how completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.” 11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift; 12 a wind too strong for that comes from Me. Now I also pronounce judgments against them.” 13 Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined! 14 Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you? 15 For a voice resounds from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim. 16 Warn the nations now! Proclaim to Jerusalem: “A besieging army comes from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah. 17 They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD. 18 “Your ways and deeds have brought this upon you. This is your punishment; how bitter it is, because it pierces to the heart!” 19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle. 20 Disaster after disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is laid waste. My tents are destroyed in an instant, my curtains in a moment. 21 How long must I see the signal flag and hear the sound of the horn? 22 “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.” 23 I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. 25 I looked, and no man was left; all the birds of the air had fled. 26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert. All its cities were torn down before the LORD, before His fierce anger. 27 For this is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be desolate, but I will not finish its destruction. 28 Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above will grow dark. I have spoken, I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back.” 29 Every city flees at the sound of the horseman and archer. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned; no inhabitant is left. 30 And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life. 31 For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child—the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to say, “Woe is me, for my soul faints before the murderers!”
John 11
At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was to anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.” 4 When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So on hearing that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two days, 7 and then He said to the disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” 8 “Rabbi,” they replied, “the Jews just tried to stone You, and You are going back there?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks in the daytime, he will not stumble, because he sees by the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks at night, he will stumble, because he has no light.” 11 After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.” 12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get better.” 13 They thought that Jesus was talking about actual sleep, but He was speaking about the death of Lazarus. 14 So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 Then Thomas called Didymus said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.” 17 When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already spent four days in the tomb. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less than two miles away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them in the loss of their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.” 23 “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. 24 Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. 26 And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she answered, “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” 28 After Martha had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside to tell her, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.” 29 And when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him. 31 When the Jews who were in the house consoling Mary saw how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. 32 When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” He asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they answered. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” 37 But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?” 38 Jesus, once again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” Jesus said. “Lord, by now he stinks,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man. “It has already been four days.” 40 Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted His eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, so they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 After Jesus had said this, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth. “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them. 45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. 48 If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 51 Caiaphas did not say this on his own. Instead, as high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not only for the nation, but also for the scattered children of God, to gather them together into one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to kill Him. 54 As a result, Jesus no longer went about publicly among the Jews, but He withdrew to a town called Ephraim in an area near the wilderness. And He stayed there with the disciples. 55 Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple courts, “What do you think? Will He come to the feast at all?” 57 But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where He was must report it, so that they could arrest Him.
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.
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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.