Daily Devotions · July 9
Reading for July 9
Read the whole Bible in a year, a few chapters a day.
Micah 1–4 · Hebrews 6
Micah 1–4 · Hebrews 6, Berean Standard Bible
Micah 1
This is the word of the LORD that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem: 2 Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it! May the Lord GOD bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple. 3 For behold, the LORD comes forth from His dwelling place; He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. 4 The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. 5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob and the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? 6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble in the open field, a planting area for a vineyard. I will pour her stones into the valley and expose her foundations. 7 All her carved images will be smashed to pieces; all her wages will be burned in the fire, and I will destroy all her idols. Since she collected the wages of a prostitute, they will be used again on a prostitute. 8 Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich. 9 For her wound is incurable; it has reached even Judah; it has approached the gate of my people, as far as Jerusalem itself. 10 Do not tell it in Gath; do not weep at all. Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah. 11 Depart in shameful nakedness, O dwellers of Shaphir. The dwellers of Zaanan will not come out. Beth-ezel is in mourning; its support is taken from you. 12 For the dwellers of Maroth pined for good, but calamity came down from the LORD, even to the gate of Jerusalem. 13 Harness your chariot horses, O dweller of Lachish. You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you. 14 Therefore, send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib will prove deceptive to the kings of Israel. 15 I will again bring a conqueror against you, O dweller of Mareshah. The glory of Israel will come to Adullam. 16 Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair in mourning for your precious children; make yourselves as bald as an eagle, for they will go from you into exile.
Micah 2
Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands. 2 They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance. 3 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I am planning against this nation a disaster from which you cannot free your necks. Then you will not walk so proudly, for it will be a time of calamity. 4 In that day they will take up a proverb against you and taunt you with this bitter lamentation: ‘We are utterly ruined! He has changed the portion of my people. How He has removed it from me! He has allotted our fields to traitors.’” 5 Therefore, you will have no one in the assembly of the LORD to divide the land by lot. 6 “Do not preach,” they preach. “Do not preach these things; disgrace will not overtake us.” 7 Should it be said, O house of Jacob, “Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient? Are these the things He does?” Do not My words bring good to him who walks uprightly? 8 But of late My people have risen up like an enemy: You strip off the splendid robe from unsuspecting passersby like men returning from battle. 9 You drive the women of My people from their pleasant homes. You take away My blessing from their children forever. 10 Arise and depart, for this is not your place of rest, because its defilement brings destruction—a grievous destruction! 11 If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people! 12 I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will collect the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in the midst of its pasture—a noisy throng. 13 One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate, and go out by it. Their King will pass through before them, the LORD as their leader.
Micah 3
Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice? 2 You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones. 3 You eat the flesh of my people after stripping off their skin and breaking their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.” 4 Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done. 5 This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their mouths: 6 Therefore night will come over you without visions, and darkness without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them. 7 Then the seers will be ashamed and the diviners will be disgraced. They will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God.” 8 As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and courage, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. 9 Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right, 10 who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster can come upon us.” 12 Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
Micah 4
In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it. 2 And many nations will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 3 Then He will judge between many peoples and arbitrate for strong nations far and wide. Then they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor will they train anymore for war. 4 And each man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, with no one to frighten him. For the mouth of the LORD of Hosts has spoken. 5 Though all the nations may walk in the name of their gods, yet we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever. 6 “On that day,” declares the LORD, “I will gather the lame; I will assemble the outcast, even those whom I have afflicted. 7 And I will make the lame into a remnant, the outcast into a strong nation. Then the LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and forever. 8 And you, O watchtower of the flock, O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion—the former dominion will be restored to you; sovereignty will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem.” 9 Why do you now cry aloud? Is there no king among you? Has your counselor perished so that anguish grips you like a woman in labor? 10 Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor. For now you will leave the city and camp in the open fields. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies! 11 But now many nations have assembled against you, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let us feast our eyes on Zion.” 12 But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD or understand His plan, for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor. 13 Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron and hooves of bronze to break to pieces many peoples. Then you will devote their gain to the LORD, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
Hebrews 6
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do, if God permits. 4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age— 6 and then have fallen away—to be restored to repentance, because they themselves are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to open shame. 7 For land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is tended receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its curse is imminent. In the end it will be burned. 9 Even though we speak like this, beloved, we are convinced of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation. 10 For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so. 11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. 12 Then you will not be sluggish, but will imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. 13 When God made His promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply your descendants.” 15 And so Abraham, after waiting patiently, obtained the promise. 16 Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument. 17 So when God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath. 18 Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus our forerunner has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
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.