Evening Devotion

¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
³ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
⁹ Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge—
¹⁰ no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
¹² On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
¹⁴ “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
¹⁵ When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (ESV)

A Psalm of Asaph.
¹ O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
² They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
³ They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.
⁴ We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.
⁵ How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?
⁶ Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name!
⁷ For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.
⁸ Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.
⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!
¹⁰ Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes!
¹¹ Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!
¹² Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!
¹³ But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise. (ESV)

¹⁵ Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
¹⁶ But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
¹⁷ They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”
¹⁸ And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
¹⁹ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
²⁰ And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
²¹ And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. (ESV)

¹ Now when the king lived in his house and the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies,
² the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”
³ And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.”
⁴ But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan,
⁵ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in?
⁶ I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.
⁷ In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’
⁸ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel.
⁹ And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.
¹⁰ And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly,
¹¹ from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.
¹² When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
¹³ He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
¹⁴ I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,
¹⁵ but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
¹⁶ And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”
¹⁷ In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. (ESV)

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
²⁵ Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
²⁷ But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
¹ For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
³ and all ate the same spiritual food,
⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
⁵ Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
⁶ Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.
⁷ Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
⁸ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
⁹ We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,
¹⁰ nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.
¹¹ Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
¹² Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
¹⁵ I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
¹⁶ The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
¹⁷ Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
¹⁸ Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
¹⁹ What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
²⁰ No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.
²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
²² Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (ESV)

¹¹ Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the LORD and in his own house he successfully accomplished.
¹² Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.
¹³ When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people,
¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.
¹⁶ For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
¹⁷ And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules,
¹⁸ then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’
¹⁹ “But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,
²⁰ then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
²¹ And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’
²² Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

¹ At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own house,
² Solomon rebuilt the cities that Hiram had given to him, and settled the people of Israel in them.
³ And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and took it.
⁴ He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities that he built in Hamath.
⁵ He also built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,
⁶ and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had and all the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
⁷ All the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,
⁸ from their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel had not destroyed—these Solomon drafted as forced labor, and so they are to this day.
⁹ But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves for his work; they were soldiers, and his officers, the commanders of his chariots, and his horsemen.
¹⁰ And these were the chief officers of King Solomon, 250, who exercised authority over the people.
¹¹ Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the LORD has come are holy.”
¹² Then Solomon offered up burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD that he had built before the vestibule,
¹³ as the duty of each day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the three annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths.
¹⁴ According to the ruling of David his father, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their offices of praise and ministry before the priests as the duty of each day required, and the gatekeepers in their divisions at each gate, for so David the man of God had commanded.
¹⁵ And they did not turn aside from what the king had commanded the priests and Levites concerning any matter and concerning the treasuries.
¹⁶ Thus was accomplished all the work of Solomon from the day the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed.
¹⁷ Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Eloth on the shore of the sea, in the land of Edom.
¹⁸ And Hiram sent to him by the hand of his servants ships and servants familiar with the sea, and they went to Ophir together with the servants of Solomon and brought from there 450 talents of gold and brought it to King Solomon.

¹ Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, having a very great retinue and camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind.
² And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from Solomon that he could not explain to her.
³ And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,
⁴ the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothing, his cupbearers, and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the LORD, there was no more breath in her.
⁵ And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom,
⁶ but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, half the greatness of your wisdom was not told me; you surpass the report that I heard.
⁷ Happy are your men! Happy are these your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!
⁸ Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and set you on his throne as king for the LORD your God! Because your God loved Israel and would establish them forever, he has made you king over them, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”
⁹ Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices, and precious stones. There were no spices such as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
¹⁰ Moreover, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum wood and precious stones.
¹¹ And the king made from the algum wood supports for the house of the LORD and for the king’s house, lyres also and harps for the singers. There never was seen the like of them before in the land of Judah.
¹² And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked besides what she had brought to the king. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.
¹³ Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold,
¹⁴ besides that which the explorers and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon.
¹⁵ King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels of beaten gold went into each shield.
¹⁶ And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; 300 shekels of gold went into each shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
¹⁷ The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold.
¹⁸ The throne had six steps and a footstool of gold, which were attached to the throne, and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests,
¹⁹ while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. Nothing like it was ever made for any kingdom.
²⁰ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon.
²¹ For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
²² Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.
²³ And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.
²⁴ Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and of gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.
²⁵ And Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
²⁶ And he ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.
²⁷ And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah.
²⁸ And horses were imported for Solomon from Egypt and from all lands.
²⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are they not written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
³⁰ Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
³¹ And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place. (ESV)

² Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.
³ But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
⁴ Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head,
⁵ but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.
⁶ For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head.
⁷ For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.
⁸ For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.
⁹ Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
¹⁰ That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
¹¹ Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman;
¹² for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.
¹³ Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered?
¹⁴ Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him,
¹⁵ but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.
¹⁶ If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
¹⁷ But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.
¹⁸ For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part,
¹⁹ for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
²⁰ When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.
²¹ For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.
²² What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
²³ For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
²⁵ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
²⁷ Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.
²⁸ Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
²⁹ For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
³⁰ That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
³¹ But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.
³² But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
³³ So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—
³⁴ if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come. (ESV)

A Psalm.
¹ Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
² The LORD has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
³ He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
⁴ Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
⁵ Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody!
⁶ With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!
⁷ Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it!
⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together
⁹ before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. (ESV)