Daily Devotions · July 2
Reading for July 2
Read the whole Bible in a year, a few chapters a day.
Isaiah 4–5 · Psalm 115–116 · Jude 1
Isaiah 4–5 · Psalm 115–116 · Jude 1, Berean Standard Bible
Isaiah 4
In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own bread and provide our own clothes. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!” 2 On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors. 3 Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy—all in Jerusalem who are recorded among the living— 4 when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire. 5 Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a canopy, 6 a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain.
Isaiah 5
I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 2 He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour! 3 “And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard. 4 What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit? 5 Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled. 6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.” 7 For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress. 8 Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land. 9 I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied. 10 For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.” 11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine. 12 At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands. 13 Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst. 14 Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s nobles and masses, her revelers and carousers! 15 So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes. 16 But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. 17 Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy. 18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes, 19 to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!” 20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter. 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. 22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing strong drink, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice. 24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25 Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lie like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised. 26 He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come! 27 None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken. 28 Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are strung. The hooves of their horses are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind. 29 Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away, and no one can rescue it. 30 In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.
Psalm 115
Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your loving devotion, because of Your faithfulness. 2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” 3 Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. 5 They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; 6 they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; 7 they have hands, but cannot feel; they have feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even clear their throats. 8 Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them. 9 O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield. 11 You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield. 12 The LORD is mindful of us; He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron; 13 He will bless those who fear the LORD—small and great alike. 14 May the LORD give you increase, both you and your children. 15 May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 16 The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth He has given to mankind. 17 It is not the dead who praise the LORD, nor any who descend into silence. 18 But it is we who will bless the LORD, both now and forevermore. Hallelujah!
Psalm 116
I love the LORD, for He has heard my voice—my appeal for mercy. 2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live. 3 The ropes of death entangled me; the anguish of Sheol overcame me; I was confronted by trouble and sorrow. 4 Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, deliver my soul!” 5 The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. 6 The LORD preserves the simplehearted; I was helpless, and He saved me. 7 Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you. 8 For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. 9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living. 10 I believed, therefore I said, “I am greatly afflicted.” 11 In my alarm I said, “All men are liars!” 12 How can I repay the LORD for all His goodness to me? 13 I will lift the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. 14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people. 15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints. 16 Truly, O LORD, I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have broken my bonds. 17 I will offer to You a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD. 18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people, 19 in the courts of the LORD’s house, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Hallelujah!
Jude 1
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who are called, loved by God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. 3 Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day. 7 In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire. 8 Yet in the same way these dreamers defile their bodies, reject authority, and slander glorious beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he disputed with the devil over the body of Moses, did not presume to bring a slanderous charge against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 These men, however, slander what they do not understand, and like irrational animals, they will be destroyed by the things they do instinctively. 11 Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed for profit into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. 14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them: “Behold, the Lord is coming with myriads of His holy ones 15 to execute judgment on everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of every ungodly act of wickedness and every harsh word spoken against Him by ungodly sinners.” 16 These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember what was foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ 18 when they said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life. 22 And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh. 24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.
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.