Daily Devotions · July 18
Reading for July 18
Read the whole Bible in a year, a few chapters a day.
Isaiah 32–35 · James 2
Isaiah 32–35 · James 2, Berean Standard Bible
Isaiah 32
Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice. 2 Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land. 3 Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. 4 The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently. 5 No longer will a fool be called noble, nor a scoundrel be respected. 6 For a fool speaks foolishness; his mind plots iniquity. He practices ungodliness and speaks falsely about the LORD; he leaves the hungry empty and deprives the thirsty of drink. 7 The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. 8 But a noble man makes honorable plans; he stands up for worthy causes. 9 Stand up, you complacent women; listen to me. Give ear to my word, you overconfident daughters. 10 In a little more than a year you will tremble, O secure ones. For the grape harvest will fail and the fruit harvest will not arrive. 11 Shudder, you ladies of leisure; tremble, you daughters of complacency. Strip yourselves bare and put sackcloth around your waists. 12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines, 13 and for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briers—even for every house of merriment in this city of revelry. 14 For the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become caves forever—the delight of wild donkeys and a pasture for flocks— 15 until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high. Then the desert will be an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest. 16 Then justice will inhabit the wilderness, and righteousness will dwell in the fertile field. 17 The work of righteousness will be peace; the service of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever. 18 Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place, in safe and secure places of rest. 19 But hail will level the forest, and the city will sink to the depths. 20 Blessed are those who sow beside abundant waters, who let the ox and donkey range freely.
Isaiah 33
Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed. 2 O LORD, be gracious to us! We wait for You. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble. 3 The peoples flee the thunder of Your voice; the nations scatter when You rise. 4 Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it. 5 The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. 6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure. 7 Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly. 8 The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. The treaty has been broken, the witnesses are despised, and human life is disregarded. 9 The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves. 10 “Now I will arise,” says the LORD. “Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted. 11 You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will consume you. 12 The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and set ablaze. 13 You who are far off, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge My might.” 14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?” 15 He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil— 16 he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured. 17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and behold a land that stretches afar. 18 Your mind will ponder the former terror: “Where is he who tallies? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?” 19 You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand. 20 Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up, nor will any of its cords be broken. 21 But there the Majestic One, our LORD, will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals, where no galley with oars will row, and no majestic vessel will pass. 22 For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our King. It is He who will save us. 23 Your ropes are slack; they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided, and even the lame will carry off plunder. 24 And no resident of Zion will say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell there will be forgiven of iniquity.
Isaiah 34
Come near, O nations, to listen; pay attention, O peoples. Let the earth hear, and all that fills it, the world and all that springs from it. 2 The LORD is angry with all the nations and furious with all their armies. He will devote them to destruction; He will give them over to slaughter. 3 Their slain will be left unburied, and the stench of their corpses will rise; the mountains will flow with their blood. 4 All the stars of heaven will be dissolved. The skies will be rolled up like a scroll, and all their stars will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like foliage from the fig tree. 5 When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, then it will come down upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction. 6 The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood. It drips with fat—with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 And the wild oxen will fall with them, the young bulls with the strong ones. Their land will be drenched with blood, and their soil will be soaked with fat. 8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9 Edom’s streams will be turned to tar, and her soil to sulfur; her land will become a blazing pitch. 10 It will not be quenched—day or night. Its smoke will ascend forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever again pass through it. 11 The desert owl and screech owl will possess it, and the great owl and raven will dwell in it. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb line of destruction. 12 No nobles will be left to proclaim a king, and all her princes will come to nothing. 13 Her towers will be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She will become a haunt for jackals, an abode for ostriches. 14 The desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and one wild goat will call to another. There the night creature will settle and find her place of repose. 15 There the owl will make her nest; she will lay and hatch her eggs and gather her brood under her shadow. Even there the birds of prey will gather, each with its mate. 16 Search and read the scroll of the LORD: Not one of these will go missing, not one will lack her mate, because He has ordered it by His mouth, and He will gather them by His Spirit. 17 He has allotted their portion; His hand has distributed it by measure. They will possess it forever; they will dwell in it from generation to generation.
Isaiah 35
The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose. 2 It will bloom profusely and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. 3 Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees! 4 Say to those with anxious hearts: “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With divine retribution He will come to save you.” 5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy. For waters will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. 7 The parched ground will become a pool, the thirsty land springs of water. In the haunt where jackals once lay, there will be grass and reeds and papyrus. 8 And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it. 9 No lion will be there, and no vicious beast will go up on it. Such will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk upon it. 10 So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
James 2
My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the noble name by which you have been called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom. 13 For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that? 17 So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. 20 O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is worthless? 21 Was not our father Abraham justified by what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith was working with his actions, and his faith was perfected by what he did. 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God. 24 As you can see, a man is justified by his deeds and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she welcomed the spies and sent them off on another route? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
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.