Daily Devotions · July 15
Reading for July 15
Read the whole Bible in a year, a few chapters a day.
Isaiah 22–24 · Hebrews 12
Isaiah 22–24 · Hebrews 12, Berean Standard Bible
Isaiah 22
This is the burden against the Valley of Vision: What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the rooftops, 2 O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle. 3 All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together, having fled to a distant place. 4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.” 5 For the Lord GOD of Hosts has set a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the Valley of Vision—of breaking down the walls and crying to the mountains. 6 Elam takes up a quiver, with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovers the shield. 7 Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the gates. 8 He has uncovered the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest. 9 You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the City of David. You collected water from the lower pool. 10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall. 11 You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago. 12 On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth. 13 But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 14 The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing: “Until your dying day, this sin of yours will never be atoned for,” says the Lord GOD of Hosts. 15 This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace: 16 What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock? 17 Look, O mighty man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you, 18 roll you into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will remain—a disgrace to the house of your master. 19 I will remove you from office, and you will be ousted from your position. 20 On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for the house of his father. 24 So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots—all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar. 25 In that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and fall, and the load upon it will be cut down.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.
Isaiah 23
This is the burden against Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus. 2 Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea. 3 On the great waters came the grain of Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations. 4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: “I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women.” 5 When the report reaches Egypt, they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre. 6 Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coastland! 7 Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away? 8 Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth? 9 The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth. 10 Cultivate your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor. 11 The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms tremble. He has given a command that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed. 12 He said, “You shall rejoice no more, O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus—even there you will find no rest.” 13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans—a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to ruin. 14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor has been destroyed! 15 At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years—the span of a king’s life. But at the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot: 16 “Take up your harp, stroll through the city, O forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody, sing many a song, so you will be remembered.” 17 And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18 Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothing.
Isaiah 24
Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants— 2 people and priest alike, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor. 3 The earth will be utterly laid waste and thoroughly plundered. For the LORD has spoken this word. 4 The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away. 5 The earth is defiled by its people; they have transgressed the laws; they have overstepped the decrees and broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive. 7 The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan. 8 The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent. 9 They no longer sing and drink wine; strong drink is bitter to those who consume it. 10 The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry. 11 In the streets they cry out for wine. All joy turns to gloom; rejoicing is exiled from the land. 12 The city is left in ruins; its gate is reduced to rubble. 13 So will it be on the earth and among the nations, like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest. 14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they proclaim the majesty of the LORD. 15 Therefore glorify the LORD in the east. Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel in the islands of the sea. 16 From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.” But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away! Woe is me.” The treacherous betray; the treacherous deal in treachery. 17 Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of the earth. 18 Whoever flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. 19 The earth is utterly broken apart, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken violently. 20 The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a shack. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again. 21 In that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven above and the kings of the earth below. 22 They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days. 23 The moon will be confounded and the sun will be ashamed; for the LORD of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders with great glory.
Hebrews 12
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live? 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness. 11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees. 13 Make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. 14 Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See to it that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could find no ground for repentance, though he sought the blessing with tears. 18 For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom, and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to a voice that made its hearers beg that no further word be spoken. 20 For they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” 22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels 23 in joyful assembly, to the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven. You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25 See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth, but heaven as well.” 27 The words “Once more” signify the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that the unshakable may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. 29 “For our God is a consuming fire.”
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.