Daily Devotions · March 5
Reading for March 5
Read the whole Bible in a year, a few chapters a day.
Deuteronomy 1–2 · Mark 12
Deuteronomy 1–2 · Mark 12, Berean Standard Bible
Deuteronomy 1
These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—in the Arabah opposite Suph—between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir. 3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them. 4 This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and then at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth. 5 On the east side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying: 6 The LORD our God said to us at Horeb: “You have stayed at this mountain long enough. 7 Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the foothills, in the Negev, and along the seacoast to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great River Euphrates. 8 See, I have placed the land before you. Enter and possess the land that the LORD swore He would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants after them.” 9 At that time I said to you, “I cannot carry the burden for you alone. 10 The LORD your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky. 11 May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times over and bless you as He has promised. 12 But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes all by myself? 13 Choose for yourselves wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will appoint them as your leaders.” 14 And you answered me and said, “What you propose to do is good.” 15 So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them as leaders over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and as officers for your tribes. 16 At that time I charged your judges: “Hear the disputes between your brothers, and judge fairly between a man and his brother or a foreign resident. 17 Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.” 18 And at that time I commanded you all the things you were to do. 19 And just as the LORD our God had commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites, through all the vast and terrifying wilderness you have seen. When we reached Kadesh-barnea, 20 I said: “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. 21 See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.” 22 Then all of you approached me and said, “Let us send men ahead of us to search out the land and bring us word of what route to follow and which cities to enter.” 23 The plan seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men from among you, one from each tribe. 24 They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied out the land. 25 They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us word: “It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.” 26 But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. 27 You grumbled in your tents and said, “Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to be annihilated. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’” 29 So I said to you: “Do not be terrified or afraid of them! 30 The LORD your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt 31 and in the wilderness, where the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way by which you traveled until you reached this place.” 32 But in spite of all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, 33 who went before you on the journey, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to seek out a place for you to camp and to show you the road to travel. 34 When the LORD heard your words, He grew angry and swore an oath, saying, 35 “Not one of the men of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your fathers, 36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.” 37 The LORD was also angry with me on your account, and He said, “Not even you shall enter the land. 38 Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will enable Israel to inherit the land. 39 And the little ones you said would become captives—your children who on that day did not know good from evil—will enter the land that I will give them, and they will possess it. 40 But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.” 41 “We have sinned against the LORD,” you replied. “We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God has commanded us.” Then each of you put on his weapons of war, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country. 42 But the LORD said to me, “Tell them not to go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from defeat by your enemies.” 43 So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the command of the LORD and presumptuously went up into the hill country. 44 Then the Amorites who lived in the hills came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir all the way to Hormah. 45 And you returned and wept before the LORD, but He would not listen to your voice or give ear to you. 46 For this reason you stayed in Kadesh for a long time—a very long time.
Deuteronomy 2
Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the LORD had instructed me, and for many days we wandered around Mount Seir. 2 At this time the LORD said to me, 3 “You have been wandering around this hill country long enough; turn to the north 4 and command the people: ‘You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful. 5 Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession. 6 You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’” 7 Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing. 8 So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab. 9 Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.” 10 (The Emites used to live there, a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. 11 Like the Anakites, they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites called them Emites. 12 The Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land that the LORD gave them as their possession.) 13 “Now arise and cross over the Brook of Zered.” So we crossed over the Brook of Zered. 14 The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them. 15 Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished. 16 Now when all the fighting men among the people had died, 17 the LORD said to me, 18 “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar. 19 But when you get close to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites. I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession.” 20 (That too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim, who used to live there, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. 21 They were a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. But the LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place, 22 just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day. 23 And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, were destroyed by the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor and settled in their place.) 24 “Arise, set out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have delivered into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. 25 This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon all the nations under heaven. They will hear the reports of you and tremble in anguish because of you.” 26 So from the Wilderness of Kedemoth I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon, saying, 27 “Let us pass through your land; we will stay on the main road. We will not turn to the right or to the left. 28 You can sell us food to eat and water to drink in exchange for silver. Only let us pass through on foot, 29 just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.” 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day. 31 Then the LORD said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.” 32 So Sihon and his whole army came out for battle against us at Jahaz. 33 And the LORD our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and his whole army. 34 At that time we captured all his cities and devoted to destruction the people of every city, including women and children. We left no survivors. 35 We carried off for ourselves only the livestock and the plunder from the cities we captured. 36 From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them. 37 But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.
Mark 12
Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine vat, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey. 2 At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized the servant, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent them another servant, and they struck him over the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and this one they killed. He sent many others; some they beat and others they killed. 6 Finally, having one beloved son, he sent him to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 7 But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized the son, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you never read this Scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 11 This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” 12 At this, the leaders sought to arrest Jesus, for they knew that He had spoken this parable against them. But fearing the crowd, they left Him and went away. 13 Later, they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch Jesus in His words. 14 “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and seek favor from no one. Indeed, You are impartial and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or not?” 15 But Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to inspect.” 16 So they brought it, and He asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they answered. 17 Then Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” And they marveled at Him. 18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and questioned Him: 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died, leaving no children. 21 Then the second one married the widow, but he also died and left no children. And the third did likewise. 22 In this way, none of the seven left any children. And last of all, the woman died. 23 In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be? For all seven were married to her.” 24 Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 But concerning the dead rising, have you not read about the burning bush in the Book of Moses, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!” 28 Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” 32 “Right, Teacher,” the scribe replied. “You have stated correctly that God is One and there is no other but Him, 33 and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely, He said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question Him any further. 35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, He asked, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David? 36 Speaking by the Holy Spirit, David himself declared: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand until I put Your enemies under Your feet.”’ 37 David himself calls Him ‘Lord.’ So how can He be David’s son?” And the large crowd listened to Him with delight. 38 In His teaching Jesus also said, “Watch out for the scribes. They like to walk around in long robes, to receive greetings in the marketplaces, 39 and to have the chief seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will receive greater condemnation.” 41 As Jesus was sitting opposite the treasury, He watched the crowd putting money into it. And many rich people put in large amounts. 42 Then one poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amounted to a small fraction of a denarius. 43 Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more than all the others into the treasury. 44 For they all contributed out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”
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
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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.