Extended Evening Devotion

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.
¹ It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
² to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,
³ to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
⁴ For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
⁵ How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!
⁶ The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this:
⁷ that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever;
⁸ but you, O LORD, are on high forever.
⁹ For behold, your enemies, O LORD, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered.
¹⁰ But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil.
¹¹ My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
¹² The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
¹³ They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,
¹⁵ to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (ESV)

¹ I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
² Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
³ The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
⁴ Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!”
⁵ Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.
⁶ The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
⁷ Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with 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, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”;
¹¹ I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.”
¹² What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?
¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
¹⁴ I will pay 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 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds.
¹⁷ I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.
¹⁸ I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,
¹⁹ in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

A Psalm of David.
¹ The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
³ He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (ESV)

¹ The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
² “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.
³ Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.
⁴ And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.
⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,
⁶ and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
⁷ “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
⁸ They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts.
¹⁰ And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
¹¹ In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover.
¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.
¹³ The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
¹⁴ “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
¹⁵ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
¹⁶ On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you.
¹⁷ And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.
¹⁸ In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
¹⁹ For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.
²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”
²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.
²² Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
²³ For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
²⁴ You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever.
²⁵ And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.
²⁶ And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’
²⁷ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
²⁸ Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. (ESV)

¹ For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
² He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
³ Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.
⁴ And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
⁵ So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”;
⁶ as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
⁷ In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
⁸ Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.
⁹ And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,
¹⁰ being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
¹¹ About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,
¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (ESV)

¹ These are the stages of the people of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt by their companies under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.
² Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage, by command of the LORD, and these are their stages according to their starting places.
³ They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the day after the Passover, the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians,
⁴ while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them. On their gods also the LORD executed judgments.
⁵ So the people of Israel set out from Rameses and camped at Succoth.
⁶ And they set out from Succoth and camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness.
⁷ And they set out from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which is east of Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol.
⁸ And they set out from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and they went a three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah.
⁹ And they set out from Marah and came to Elim; at Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.
¹⁰ And they set out from Elim and camped by the Red Sea.
¹¹ And they set out from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin.
¹² And they set out from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah.
¹³ And they set out from Dophkah and camped at Alush.
¹⁴ And they set out from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
¹⁵ And they set out from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.
¹⁶ And they set out from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.
¹⁷ And they set out from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.
¹⁸ And they set out from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.
¹⁹ And they set out from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez.
²⁰ And they set out from Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah.
²¹ And they set out from Libnah and camped at Rissah.
²² And they set out from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah.
²³ And they set out from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.
²⁴ And they set out from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah.
²⁵ And they set out from Haradah and camped at Makheloth.
²⁶ And they set out from Makheloth and camped at Tahath.
²⁷ And they set out from Tahath and camped at Terah.
²⁸ And they set out from Terah and camped at Mithkah.
²⁹ And they set out from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah.
³⁰ And they set out from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth.
³¹ And they set out from Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan.
³² And they set out from Bene-jaakan and camped at Hor-haggidgad.
³³ And they set out from Hor-haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah.
³⁴ And they set out from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah.
³⁵ And they set out from Abronah and camped at Ezion-geber.
³⁶ And they set out from Ezion-geber and camped in the wilderness of Zin (that is, Kadesh).
³⁷ And they set out from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom.
³⁸ And Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor at the command of the LORD and died there, in the fortieth year after the people of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month.
³⁹ And Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor.
⁴⁰ And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the people of Israel.
⁴¹ And they set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.
⁴² And they set out from Zalmonah and camped at Punon.
⁴³ And they set out from Punon and camped at Oboth.
⁴⁴ And they set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the territory of Moab.
⁴⁵ And they set out from Iyim and camped at Dibon-gad.
⁴⁶ And they set out from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim.
⁴⁷ And they set out from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.
⁴⁸ And they set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho;
⁴⁹ they camped by the Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.
⁵⁰ And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,
⁵¹ “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
⁵² then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places.
⁵³ And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.
⁵⁴ You shall inherit the land by lot according to your clans. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. According to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit.
⁵⁵ But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell.
⁵⁶ And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”

¹ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
² “Command the people of Israel, and say to them, When you enter the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan as defined by its borders),
³ your south side shall be from the wilderness of Zin alongside Edom, and your southern border shall run from the end of the Salt Sea on the east.
⁴ And your border shall turn south of the ascent of Akrabbim, and cross to Zin, and its limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea. Then it shall go on to Hazar-addar, and pass along to Azmon.
⁵ And the border shall turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and its limit shall be at the sea.
⁶ “For the western border, you shall have the Great Sea and its coast. This shall be your western border.
⁷ “This shall be your northern border: from the Great Sea you shall draw a line to Mount Hor.
⁸ From Mount Hor you shall draw a line to Lebo-hamath, and the limit of the border shall be at Zedad.
⁹ Then the border shall extend to Ziphron, and its limit shall be at Hazar-enan. This shall be your northern border.
¹⁰ “You shall draw a line for your eastern border from Hazar-enan to Shepham.
¹¹ And the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain. And the border shall go down and reach to the shoulder of the Sea of Chinnereth on the east.
¹² And the border shall go down to the Jordan, and its limit shall be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land as defined by its borders all around.”
¹³ Moses commanded the people of Israel, saying, “This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which the LORD has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe.
¹⁴ For the tribe of the people of Reuben by fathers’ houses and the tribe of the people of Gad by their fathers’ houses have received their inheritance, and also the half-tribe of Manasseh.
¹⁵ The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, toward the sunrise.”
¹⁶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
¹⁷ “These are the names of the men who shall divide the land to you for inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun.
¹⁸ You shall take one chief from every tribe to divide the land for inheritance.
¹⁹ These are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.
²⁰ Of the tribe of the people of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud.
²¹ Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon.
²² Of the tribe of the people of Dan a chief, Bukki the son of Jogli.
²³ Of the people of Joseph: of the tribe of the people of Manasseh a chief, Hanniel the son of Ephod.
²⁴ And of the tribe of the people of Ephraim a chief, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan.
²⁵ Of the tribe of the people of Zebulun a chief, Elizaphan the son of Parnach.
²⁶ Of the tribe of the people of Issachar a chief, Paltiel the son of Azzan.
²⁷ And of the tribe of the people of Asher a chief, Ahihud the son of Shelomi.
²⁸ Of the tribe of the people of Naphtali a chief, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.”
²⁹ These are the men whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance for the people of Israel in the land of Canaan. (ESV)

¹⁰ On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida.
¹¹ When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.
¹² Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.”
¹³ But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.”
¹⁴ For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”
¹⁵ And they did so, and had them all sit down.
¹⁶ And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
¹⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
¹⁸ Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
¹⁹ And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”
²⁰ Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
²¹ And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one,
²² saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
²³ And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
²⁴ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
²⁵ For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
²⁶ For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
²⁷ But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (ESV)

²² “The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.
²³ Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
²⁴ When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.
²⁵ Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth,
²⁶ before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world.
²⁷ When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
²⁸ when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep,
²⁹ when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
³⁰ then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,
³¹ rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man. (ESV)

¹ And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
² He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.
³ Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.
⁴ They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
⁵ They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone.
⁶ And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
⁷ In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces,
⁸ their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth;
⁹ they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.
¹⁰ They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.
¹¹ They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
¹² The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.
¹³ Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God,
¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
¹⁵ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind.
¹⁶ The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.
¹⁷ And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths.
¹⁸ By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.
¹⁹ For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.
²⁰ The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,
²¹ nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

¹ Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.
² He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land,
³ and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded.
⁴ And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.”
⁵ And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven
⁶ and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay,
⁷ but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.
⁸ Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
⁹ So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”
¹⁰ And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.
¹¹ And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

¹ Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there,
² but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.
³ And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
⁴ These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
⁵ And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.
⁶ They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.
⁷ And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,
⁸ and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
⁹ For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb,
¹⁰ and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.
¹¹ But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
¹² Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.
¹³ And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
¹⁴ The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.
¹⁵ Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
¹⁶ And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,
¹⁷ saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.
¹⁸ The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
¹⁹ Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

¹ And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
² She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.
³ And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.
⁴ His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.
⁵ She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,
⁶ and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
⁷ Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,
⁸ but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
⁹ And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
¹⁰ And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
¹¹ And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
¹² Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
¹³ And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
¹⁴ But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.
¹⁵ The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood.
¹⁶ But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.
¹⁷ Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. (ESV)

¹ I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
² Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
³ The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
⁴ Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!”
⁵ Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.
⁶ The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
⁷ Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with 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, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”;
¹¹ I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.”
¹² What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?
¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
¹⁴ I will pay 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 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds.
¹⁷ I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.
¹⁸ I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,
¹⁹ in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

A Psalm of David.
¹ The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
³ He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (ESV)