Evening Devotion

A Psalm of David.
¹ O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
² Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
³ Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!
⁴ Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies!
⁵ Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.
⁶ When their judges are thrown over the cliff, then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.
⁷ As when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
⁸ But my eyes are toward you, O GOD, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!
⁹ Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers!
¹⁰ Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely. (ESV)

Of David.
¹ Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;
² he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.
³ O LORD, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him?
⁴ Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
⁵ Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down! Touch the mountains so that they smoke!
⁶ Flash forth the lightning and scatter them; send out your arrows and rout them!
⁷ Stretch out your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of foreigners,
⁸ whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
⁹ I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
¹⁰ who gives victory to kings, who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.
¹¹ Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
¹² May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace;
¹³ may our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce; may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
¹⁴ may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing; may there be no cry of distress in our streets!
¹⁵ Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD! (ESV)

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, (ESV)

²¹ “Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins.
²² And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.
²³ “And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me,
²⁴ then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.
²⁵ And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
²⁶ When I break your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
²⁷ “But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me,
²⁸ then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.
²⁹ You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.
³⁰ And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you.
³¹ And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing aromas.
³² And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it.
³³ And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.

³⁹ And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies’ lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.
⁴⁰ “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me,
⁴¹ so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity,
⁴² then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
⁴³ But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes.
⁴⁴ Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. (ESV)

¹ One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.
² And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.
³ And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
⁴ But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.
⁵ And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”
⁶ And they could not reply to these things.
⁷ Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them,
⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him,
⁹ and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.
¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.
¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
¹² He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.
¹³ But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
¹⁴ and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
¹⁵ When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
¹⁶ But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.
¹⁷ And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’
¹⁹ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’
²⁰ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
²¹ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’
²² And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’
²³ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.
²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’” (ESV)

²⁴ And the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day, so Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.” So none of the people had tasted food.
²⁵ Now when all the people came to the forest, behold, there was honey on the ground.
²⁶ And when the people entered the forest, behold, the honey was dropping, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.
²⁷ But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath, so he put out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes became bright.
²⁸ Then one of the people said, “Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food this day.’” And the people were faint.
²⁹ Then Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey.
³⁰ How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies that they found. For now the defeat among the Philistines has not been great.”
³¹ They struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very faint.
³² The people pounced on the spoil and took sheep and oxen and calves and slaughtered them on the ground. And the people ate them with the blood.
³³ Then they told Saul, “Behold, the people are sinning against the LORD by eating with the blood.” And he said, “You have dealt treacherously; roll a great stone to me here.”
³⁴ And Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, ‘Let every man bring his ox or his sheep and slaughter them here and eat, and do not sin against the LORD by eating with the blood.’” So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and they slaughtered them there.
³⁵ And Saul built an altar to the LORD; it was the first altar that he built to the LORD.
³⁶ Then Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light; let us not leave a man of them.” And they said, “Do whatever seems good to you.” But the priest said, “Let us draw near to God here.”
³⁷ And Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day.
³⁸ And Saul said, “Come here, all you leaders of the people, and know and see how this sin has arisen today.
³⁹ For as the LORD lives who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.” But there was not a man among all the people who answered him.
⁴⁰ Then he said to all Israel, “You shall be on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side.” And the people said to Saul, “Do what seems good to you.”
⁴¹ Therefore Saul said, “O LORD God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant this day? If this guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son, O LORD, God of Israel, give Urim. But if this guilt is in your people Israel, give Thummim.” And Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people escaped.
⁴² Then Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan.” And Jonathan was taken.
⁴³ Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” And Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am; I will die.”
⁴⁴ And Saul said, “God do so to me and more also; you shall surely die, Jonathan.”
⁴⁵ Then the people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it! As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day.” So the people ransomed Jonathan, so that he did not die.
⁴⁶ Then Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.
⁴⁷ When Saul had taken the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the Ammonites, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned he routed them.
⁴⁸ And he did valiantly and struck the Amalekites and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them.
⁴⁹ Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchi-shua. And the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn was Merab, and the name of the younger Michal.
⁵⁰ And the name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle.
⁵¹ Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.
⁵² There was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he attached him to himself.

¹ And Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the LORD.
² Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt.
³ Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
⁴ So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah.
⁵ And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.
⁶ Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
⁷ And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.
⁸ And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword.
⁹ But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
¹⁰ The word of the LORD came to Samuel:
¹¹ “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the LORD all night.
¹² And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.”
¹³ And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD.”
¹⁴ And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?”
¹⁵ Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the LORD your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.”
¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”
¹⁷ And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel.
¹⁸ And the LORD sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’
¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?”
²⁰ And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction.
²¹ But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”
²² And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
²³ For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.”
²⁴ Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
²⁵ Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the LORD.”
²⁶ And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
²⁷ As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore.
²⁸ And Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.
²⁹ And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”
³⁰ Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the LORD your God.”
³¹ So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the LORD.
³² Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
³³ And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.
³⁴ Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.
³⁵ And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. (ESV)

¹ “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
² In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.”
⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
¹⁹ Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
²¹ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”
²³ Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
²⁴ Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.
²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
²⁸ You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
²⁹ And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.
³⁰ I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,
³¹ but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. (ESV)

²⁸ In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.

¹ A wise son hears his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.
² From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good, but the desire of the treacherous is for violence.
³ Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
⁴ The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.
⁵ The righteous hates falsehood, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace.
⁶ Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless, but sin overthrows the wicked.
⁷ One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
⁸ The ransom of a man’s life is his wealth, but a poor man hears no threat.
⁹ The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked will be put out. (ESV)