Daily Devotions · February 14
Reading for February 14
Read the whole Bible in a year, a few chapters a day.
Leviticus 23–24 · Psalm 24 · Acts 21
Leviticus 23–24 · Psalm 24 · Acts 21, Berean Standard Bible
Leviticus 23
Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘These are My appointed feasts, the feasts of the LORD that you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. 3 For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a day of sacred assembly. You must not do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD. 4 These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times. 5 The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. 6 On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any regular work. 8 For seven days you are to present a food offering to the LORD. On the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work.’” 9 And the LORD said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest. 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD so that it may be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a year-old lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD, 13 along with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil—a food offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter hin of wine. 14 You must not eat any bread or roasted or new grain until the very day you have brought this offering to your God. This is to be a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live. 15 From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you are to count off seven full weeks. 16 You shall count off fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD. 17 Bring two loaves of bread from your dwellings as a wave offering, each made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with leaven, as the firstfruits to the LORD. 18 Along with the bread you are to present seven unblemished male lambs a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the LORD, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 19 You shall also prepare one male goat as a sin offering and two male lambs a year old as a peace offering. 20 The priest is to wave the lambs as a wave offering before the LORD, together with the bread of the firstfruits. The bread and the two lambs shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21 On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly, and you must not do any regular work. This is to be a permanent statute wherever you live for the generations to come. 22 When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap all the way to the edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident. I am the LORD your God.’” 23 The LORD also said to Moses, 24 “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly announced by trumpet blasts. 25 You must not do any regular work, but you are to present a food offering to the LORD.’” 26 Again the LORD said to Moses, 27 “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You shall hold a sacred assembly and humble yourselves, and present a food offering to the LORD. 28 On this day you are not to do any work, for it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God. 29 If anyone does not humble himself on this day, he must be cut off from his people. 30 I will destroy from among his people anyone who does any work on this day. 31 You are not to do any work at all. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live. 32 It will be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall humble yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to keep your Sabbath.” 33 And the LORD said to Moses, 34 “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Feast of Tabernacles to the LORD begins, and it continues for seven days. 35 On the first day there shall be a sacred assembly. You must not do any regular work. 36 For seven days you are to present a food offering to the LORD. On the eighth day you are to hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you must not do any regular work. 37 These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for presenting food offerings to the LORD—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its designated day. 38 These offerings are in addition to the offerings for the LORD’s Sabbaths, and in addition to your gifts, to all your vow offerings, and to all the freewill offerings you give to the LORD. 39 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the produce of the land, you are to celebrate a feast to the LORD for seven days. There shall be complete rest on the first day and also on the eighth day. 40 On the first day you are to gather the fruit of majestic trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of leafy trees and of willows of the brook. And you are to rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. 41 You are to celebrate this as a feast to the LORD for seven days each year. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come; you are to celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You are to dwell in booths for seven days. All the native-born of Israel must dwell in booths, 43 so that your descendants may know that I made the Israelites dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’” 44 So Moses announced to the Israelites the appointed feasts of the LORD.
Leviticus 24
Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually. 3 Outside the veil of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps continually before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the generations to come. 4 He shall tend the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD continually. 5 You are also to take fine flour and bake twelve loaves, using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf, 6 and set them in two rows—six per row—on the table of pure gold before the LORD. 7 And you are to place pure frankincense near each row, so that it may serve as a memorial portion for the bread, a food offering to the LORD. 8 Every Sabbath day the bread is to be set out before the LORD on behalf of the Israelites as a permanent covenant. 9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place; for it is to him a most holy part of the food offerings to the LORD—his portion forever.” 10 Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. 11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse. So they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 12 They placed him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them. 13 Then the LORD said to Moses, 14 “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then have the whole assembly stone him. 15 And you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If anyone curses his God, he shall bear the consequences of his sin. 16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD must surely be put to death; the whole assembly must surely stone him, whether he is a foreign resident or native; if he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death. 17 And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death. 18 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution—life for life. 19 If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Just as he injured the other person, the same must be inflicted on him. 21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death. 22 You are to have the same standard of law for the foreign resident and the native; for I am the LORD your God.’” 23 Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. So the Israelites did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Psalm 24
A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein. 2 For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. 3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully. 5 He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from the God of his salvation. 6 Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, O God of Jacob. Selah 7 Lift up your heads, O gates! Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may enter! 8 Who is this King of Glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O gates! Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may enter! 10 Who is He, this King of Glory? The LORD of Hosts—He is the King of Glory. Selah
Acts 21
After we had torn ourselves away from them, we sailed directly to Cos, and the next day on to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 2 Finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we boarded it and set sail. 3 After sighting Cyprus and passing south of it, we sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre, where the ship was to unload its cargo. 4 We sought out the disciples in Tyre and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they kept telling Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 5 But when our time there had ended, we set out on our journey. All the disciples, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city and knelt down on the beach to pray with us. 6 And after we had said our farewells, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home. 7 When we had finished our voyage from Tyre, we landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for a day. 8 Leaving the next day, we went on to Caesarea and stayed at the home of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven. 9 He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. 10 After we had been there several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands, and said, “The Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and hand him over to the Gentiles.’” 12 When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 When he would not be dissuaded, we quieted down and said, “The Lord’s will be done.” 15 After these days, we packed up and went on to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us, and they took us to stay at the home of Mnason the Cypriot, an early disciple. 17 When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us joyfully. 18 The next day Paul went in with us to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 Paul greeted them and recounted one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 When they heard this, they glorified God. Then they said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 But they are under the impression that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or observe our customs. 22 What then should we do? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 Therefore do what we advise you. There are four men with us who have taken a vow. 24 Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law. 25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.” 26 So the next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he entered the temple to give notice of the date when their purification would be complete and the offering would be made for each of them. 27 When the seven days were almost over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 crying out, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and against our law and against this place. Furthermore, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” 29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple. 30 The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, the commander of the Roman regiment received a report that all Jerusalem was in turmoil. 32 Immediately he took some soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd. When the people saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 The commander came up and arrested Paul, ordering that he be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, and some another. And since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. 35 When Paul reached the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. 36 For the crowd that followed him kept shouting, “Away with him!” 37 As they were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?” “Do you speak Greek?” he replied. 38 “Aren’t you the Egyptian who incited a rebellion some time ago and led four thousand members of the Assassins into the wilderness?” 39 But Paul answered, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Now I beg you to allow me to speak to the people.” 40 Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Hebrew:
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.
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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.