Extended Evening Devotion

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
¹ Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
² For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.
³ He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.
⁴ He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah
⁵ God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
⁶ Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
⁷ For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!
⁸ God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.
⁹ The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted! (ESV)

⁴ After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
⁵ And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”
⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”
⁷ Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
⁸ Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
⁹ Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.
¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.”
¹¹ And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
¹² So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.
¹³ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
¹⁴ So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.
¹⁵ And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.”
¹⁶ And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.
¹⁷ And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.
¹⁹ She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.
²⁰ And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
²¹ And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.
²² But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
²³ Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.”
²⁴ And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”
²⁵ And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars.
²⁶ And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.”
²⁷ Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.
²⁸ Then Samson called to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.”
²⁹ And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other.
³⁰ And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. (ESV)

¹² Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong.
¹³ You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first,
¹⁴ and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.
¹⁵ What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.
¹⁶ Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?
¹⁷ They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.
¹⁸ It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you,
¹⁹ my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!
²⁰ I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
²¹ Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.
²³ But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.
²⁴ Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.
²⁵ Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
²⁶ But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
²⁷ For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”
²⁸ Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
²⁹ But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.
³⁰ But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”
³¹ So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. (ESV)

¹ Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:
² “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
³ “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?
⁴ Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing?
⁵ Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing?
⁶ Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?
⁷ “For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.
⁸ The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?”
⁹ Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great tumults within her, and the oppressed in her midst.”
¹⁰ “They do not know how to do right,” declares the LORD, “those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.”
¹¹ Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered.”
¹² Thus says the LORD: “As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.
¹³ “Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,
¹⁴ “that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions, I will punish the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground.
¹⁵ I will strike the winter house along with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end,” declares the LORD.

¹ “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’
² The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks.
³ And you shall go out through the breaches, each one straight ahead; and you shall be cast out into Harmon,” declares the LORD.
⁴ “Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days;
⁵ offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!” declares the Lord GOD.
⁶ “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
⁷ “I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither;
⁸ so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
⁹ “I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
¹⁰ “I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
¹¹ “I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
¹² “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
¹³ For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name! (ESV)

⁹ What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
¹⁰ as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
¹¹ no one understands; no one seeks for God.
¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
¹³ “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
¹⁴ “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶ in their paths are ruin and misery,
¹⁷ and the way of peace they have not known.”
¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
²⁰ For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
²¹ But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
²⁷ Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
²⁸ For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
³⁰ since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
³¹ Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. (ESV)

⁸ Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly.
⁹ Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.
¹⁰ Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
¹¹ Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky.
¹² Yes, the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
¹³ Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way. (ESV)