Extended Evening Devotion

A Song of Praise. Of David.
¹ I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.
² Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.
³ Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
⁴ One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
⁵ On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
⁶ They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.
⁷ They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
⁸ The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.
¹⁰ All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you!
¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power,
¹² to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. [The LORD is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.]
¹⁴ The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
¹⁶ You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
¹⁷ The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.
¹⁸ The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹ He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.
²⁰ The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever. (ESV)

¹ Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.
² And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
³ And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel.
⁴ And Moab said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time,
⁵ sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the people of Amaw, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me.
⁶ Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”
⁷ So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam and gave him Balak’s message.
⁸ And he said to them, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the LORD speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.
⁹ And God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?”
¹⁰ And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying,
¹¹ ‘Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now come, curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.’”
¹² God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”
¹³ So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your own land, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”
¹⁴ So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.”
¹⁵ Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these.
¹⁶ And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing hinder you from coming to me,
¹⁷ for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.’”
¹⁸ But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God to do less or more.
¹⁹ So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.”
²⁰ And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” (ESV)

¹ Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.
² And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.
³ Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.
⁴ He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.
⁵ And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.
⁶ So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.
⁷ Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.
⁸ So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”
⁹ They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?”
¹⁰ He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters
¹¹ and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’
¹² And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.”
¹³ And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
¹⁴ And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him.
¹⁵ And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
¹⁶ For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
¹⁷ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves.
¹⁸ For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
¹⁹ And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
²⁰ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
²¹ But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.
²² For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”
²³ And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. (ESV)

¹ The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”
² And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’
³ And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.”
⁴ Samuel did what the LORD commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?”
⁵ And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
⁶ When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.”
⁷ But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.”
⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.”
¹⁰ And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.”
¹¹ Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”
¹² And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”
¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him.
¹⁵ And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you.
¹⁶ Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.”
¹⁷ So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.”
¹⁸ One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the LORD is with him.”
¹⁹ Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.”
²⁰ And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul.
²¹ And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer.
²² And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.”
²³ And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.

¹ Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.
² And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines.
³ And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.
⁴ And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
⁵ He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.
⁶ And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.
⁷ The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him.
⁸ He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.
⁹ If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.”
¹⁰ And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.”
¹¹ When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
¹² Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years.
¹³ The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
¹⁴ David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul,
¹⁵ but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
¹⁶ For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.
¹⁷ And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers.
¹⁸ Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.”
¹⁹ Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
²⁰ And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry.
²¹ And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army.
²² And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers.
²³ As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.
²⁴ All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid.
²⁵ And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.”
²⁶ And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
²⁷ And the people answered him in the same way, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.”
²⁸ Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”
²⁹ And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?”
³⁰ And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before.
³¹ When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him.
³² And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
³³ And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”
³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock,
³⁵ I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.
³⁶ Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”
³⁷ And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!” (ESV)

¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
⁶ If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you.
¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
¹⁷ These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
¹⁸ “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
²¹ But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father also.
²⁴ If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.
²⁵ But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
²⁶ “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
²⁷ And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

¹ “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.
² They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.
³ And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.
⁴ But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. (ESV)

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
² that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
³ Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
⁴ Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
⁵ Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
⁶ The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
⁷ God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him! (ESV)