Evening Devotion

A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
¹ O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me;
² many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah
³ But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.
⁴ I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah
⁵ I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
⁶ I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.
⁷ Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.
⁸ Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people! Selah (ESV)

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David.
¹ Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
² No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.
³ The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
⁴ They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
⁵ so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.
⁶ O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
⁷ Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
⁸ Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
⁹ Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!
¹⁰ The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
¹¹ Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.” (ESV)

²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther,
²⁹ but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.
³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.
³¹ And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. (ESV)

¹ And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have obeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you.
² And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.
³ Here I am; testify against me before the LORD and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me and I will restore it to you.”
⁴ They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.”
⁵ And he said to them, “The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”
⁶ And Samuel said to the people, “The LORD is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
⁷ Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the LORD concerning all the righteous deeds of the LORD that he performed for you and for your fathers.
⁸ When Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them, then your fathers cried out to the LORD and the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place.
⁹ But they forgot the LORD their God. And he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them.
¹⁰ And they cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.’
¹¹ And the LORD sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.
¹² And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the LORD your God was your king.
¹³ And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the LORD has set a king over you.
¹⁴ If you will fear the LORD and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God, it will be well.
¹⁵ But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you and your king.
¹⁶ Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the LORD will do before your eyes.
¹⁷ Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the LORD, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking for yourselves a king.”
¹⁸ So Samuel called upon the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.
¹⁹ And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.”
²⁰ And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.
²¹ And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.
²² For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself.
²³ Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
²⁴ Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.
²⁵ But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.” (ESV)

³⁰ But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.
¹ And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.”
² And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.
³ Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?”
⁴ Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?”
⁵ And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”
⁶ Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”
⁷ And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
⁸ For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
⁹ Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?”
¹⁰ And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.
¹¹ The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.” (ESV)

¹⁸ Caleb the son of Hezron fathered children by his wife Azubah, and by Jerioth; and these were her sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.
¹⁹ When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur.
²⁰ Hur fathered Uri, and Uri fathered Bezalel.
²¹ Afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he married when he was sixty years old, and she bore him Segub.
²² And Segub fathered Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead.
²³ But Geshur and Aram took from them Havvoth-jair, Kenath, and its villages, sixty towns. All these were descendants of Machir, the father of Gilead.
²⁴ After the death of Hezron, Caleb went in to Ephrathah, the wife of Hezron his father, and she bore him Ashhur, the father of Tekoa.
²⁵ The sons of Jerahmeel, the firstborn of Hezron: Ram, his firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah.
²⁶ Jerahmeel also had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam.
²⁷ The sons of Ram, the firstborn of Jerahmeel: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker.
²⁸ The sons of Onam: Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur.
²⁹ The name of Abishur’s wife was Abihail, and she bore him Ahban and Molid.
³⁰ The sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim; and Seled died childless.
³¹ The son of Appaim: Ishi. The son of Ishi: Sheshan. The son of Sheshan: Ahlai.
³² The sons of Jada, Shammai’s brother: Jether and Jonathan; and Jether died childless.
³³ The sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the descendants of Jerahmeel.
³⁴ Now Sheshan had no sons, only daughters, but Sheshan had an Egyptian slave whose name was Jarha.
³⁵ So Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to Jarha his slave, and she bore him Attai.
³⁶ Attai fathered Nathan, and Nathan fathered Zabad.
³⁷ Zabad fathered Ephlal, and Ephlal fathered Obed.
³⁸ Obed fathered Jehu, and Jehu fathered Azariah.
³⁹ Azariah fathered Helez, and Helez fathered Eleasah.
⁴⁰ Eleasah fathered Sismai, and Sismai fathered Shallum.
⁴¹ Shallum fathered Jekamiah, and Jekamiah fathered Elishama.
⁴² The sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel: Mareshah his firstborn, who fathered Ziph. The son of Mareshah: Hebron.
⁴³ The sons of Hebron: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem and Shema.
⁴⁴ Shema fathered Raham, the father of Jorkeam; and Rekem fathered Shammai.
⁴⁵ The son of Shammai: Maon; and Maon fathered Beth-zur.
⁴⁶ Ephah also, Caleb’s concubine, bore Haran, Moza, and Gazez; and Haran fathered Gazez.
⁴⁷ The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph.
⁴⁸ Maacah, Caleb’s concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah.
⁴⁹ She also bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbenah and the father of Gibea; and the daughter of Caleb was Achsah.
⁵⁰ These were the descendants of Caleb. The sons of Hur the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim,
⁵¹ Salma, the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph the father of Beth-gader.
⁵² Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim had other sons: Haroeh, half of the Menuhoth.
⁵³ And the clans of Kiriath-jearim: the Ithrites, the Puthites, the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; from these came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites.
⁵⁴ The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites.
⁵⁵ The clans also of the scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites and the Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.

¹ These are the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite; the second, Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelite,
² the third, Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith;
³ the fifth, Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah;
⁴ six were born to him in Hebron, where he reigned for seven years and six months. And he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
⁵ These were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon, four by Bath-shua, the daughter of Ammiel;
⁶ then Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet,
⁷ Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,
⁸ Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine.
⁹ All these were David’s sons, besides the sons of the concubines, and Tamar was their sister.
¹⁰ The son of Solomon was Rehoboam, Abijah his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son,
¹¹ Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son,
¹² Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son,
¹³ Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son,
¹⁴ Amon his son, Josiah his son.
¹⁵ The sons of Josiah: Johanan the firstborn, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum.
¹⁶ The descendants of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son;
¹⁷ and the sons of Jeconiah, the captive: Shealtiel his son,
¹⁸ Malchiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama and Nedabiah;
¹⁹ and the sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel and Shimei; and the sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah, and Shelomith was their sister;
²⁰ and Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-hesed, five.
²¹ The sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, his son Rephaiah, his son Arnan, his son Obadiah, his son Shecaniah.
²² The son of Shecaniah: Shemaiah. And the sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat, six.
²³ The sons of Neariah: Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam, three.
²⁴ The sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani, seven.

¹ The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.
² Reaiah the son of Shobal fathered Jahath, and Jahath fathered Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the Zorathites.
³ These were the sons of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash; and the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi,
⁴ and Penuel fathered Gedor, and Ezer fathered Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, the father of Bethlehem.
⁵ Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah and Naarah;
⁶ Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah.
⁷ The sons of Helah: Zereth, Izhar, and Ethnan.
⁸ Koz fathered Anub, Zobebah, and the clans of Aharhel, the son of Harum. (ESV)

⁵ For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
⁶ But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down)
⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);
⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
¹⁸ But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”
¹⁹ But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”
²⁰ Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”
²¹ But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

¹ I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
² God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?
³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”
⁴ But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
⁵ So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
⁶ But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
⁷ What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,
⁸ as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”
⁹ And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
¹⁰ let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.” (ESV)

⁷ A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.
⁸ The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.
⁹ Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.
¹⁰ The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
¹¹ A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.
¹² Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.
¹³ If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.
¹⁴ A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?
¹⁵ An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
¹⁶ A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before the great. (ESV)