Evening Devotion

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.
¹ O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
² Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
⁵ Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
⁶ You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,
⁷ all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
⁸ the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
⁹ O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (ESV)

A Psalm of David.
¹ The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,
² for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
³ Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?
⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.
⁵ He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
⁷ Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
⁸ Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!
⁹ Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
¹⁰ Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah (ESV)

⁶ On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
⁷ And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.
⁸ He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.
⁹ It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (ESV)

¹ Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
² Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.
³ A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.
⁴ Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?
⁵ Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
⁶ Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
⁷ One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.
⁸ Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home.
⁹ Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.
¹⁰ Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.
¹¹ Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him who reproaches me.
¹² The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.
¹³ Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger, and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for an adulteress.
¹⁴ Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.
¹⁵ A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike;
¹⁶ to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in one’s right hand.
¹⁷ Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
¹⁸ Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored.
¹⁹ As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.
²⁰ Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man.
²¹ The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise.
²² Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his folly will not depart from him.
²³ Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds,
²⁴ for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations? (ESV)

¹ Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
² So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
³ So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.
⁴ Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
⁵ And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,
⁷ and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.
⁸ Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;
⁹ for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to their homes.
¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.
¹² And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
¹⁴ Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her. (ESV)

¹⁴ And the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom.
¹⁵ For when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, he struck down every male in Edom
¹⁶ (for Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom).
¹⁷ But Hadad fled to Egypt, together with certain Edomites of his father’s servants, Hadad still being a little child.
¹⁸ They set out from Midian and came to Paran and took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him an allowance of food and gave him land.
¹⁹ And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.
²⁰ And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh.
²¹ But when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.”
²² But Pharaoh said to him, “What have you lacked with me that you are now seeking to go to your own country?” And he said to him, “Only let me depart.”
²³ God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah.
²⁴ And he gathered men about him and became leader of a marauding band, after the killing by David. And they went to Damascus and lived there and made him king in Damascus.
²⁵ He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, doing harm as Hadad did. And he loathed Israel and reigned over Syria.
²⁶ Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king.
²⁷ And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father.
²⁸ The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.
²⁹ And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country.
³⁰ Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces.
³¹ And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes
³² (but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel),
³³ because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did.
³⁴ Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes.
³⁵ But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and will give it to you, ten tribes.
³⁶ Yet to his son I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.
³⁷ And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel.
³⁸ And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.
³⁹ And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.’”
⁴⁰ Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
⁴¹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?
⁴² And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.
⁴³ And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

¹ Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
² And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt.
³ And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam,
⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.”
⁵ He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.
⁶ Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”
⁷ And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.”
⁸ But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.
⁹ And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?”
¹⁰ And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs.
¹¹ And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”
¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.”
¹³ And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him,
¹⁴ he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”
¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
¹⁶ And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents.
¹⁷ But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah.
¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
¹⁹ So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
²⁰ And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only.
²¹ When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
²² But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God:
²³ “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people,
²⁴ ‘Thus says the LORD, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, for this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the LORD and went home again, according to the word of the LORD. (ESV)

²² Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,
²³ with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.
²⁴ Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,
²⁵ it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
²⁶ men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
²⁷ We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.
²⁸ For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:
²⁹ that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
³⁰ So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter.
³¹ And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.
³² And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.
³³ And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.
³⁵ But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
³⁶ And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”
³⁷ Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark.
³⁸ But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.
³⁹ And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus,
⁴⁰ but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
⁴¹ And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (ESV)

¹⁰ Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
¹² I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.
¹³ Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?
¹⁴ You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples.
¹⁵ You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
¹⁶ When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled.
¹⁷ The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth thunder; your arrows flashed on every side.
¹⁸ The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook.
¹⁹ Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.
²⁰ You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. (ESV)