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)

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
¹ How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
² My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
³ Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah
⁵ Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
⁶ As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.
⁷ They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.
⁸ O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
⁹ Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!
¹⁰ For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
¹² O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! (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)

¹ When David’s time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying,
² “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man,
³ and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn,
⁴ that the LORD may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
⁵ “Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, avenging in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war, and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and on the sandals on his feet.
⁶ Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
⁷ But deal loyally with the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for with such loyalty they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother.
⁸ And there is also with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse on the day when I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’
⁹ Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.”
¹⁰ Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.
¹¹ And the time that David reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
¹² So Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.
¹³ Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, “Do you come peacefully?” He said, “Peacefully.”
¹⁴ Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” She said, “Speak.”
¹⁵ He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel fully expected me to reign. However, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, for it was his from the LORD.
¹⁶ And now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me.” She said to him, “Speak.”
¹⁷ And he said, “Please ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”
¹⁸ Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak for you to the king.”
¹⁹ So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right.
²⁰ Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”
²¹ She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as his wife.”
²² King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my older brother, and on his side are Abiathar the priest and Joab the son of Zeruiah.”
²³ Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, “God do so to me and more also if this word does not cost Adonijah his life!
²⁴ Now therefore as the LORD lives, who has established me and placed me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today.”
²⁵ So King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he struck him down, and he died.
²⁶ And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you shared in all my father’s affliction.”
²⁷ So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, thus fulfilling the word of the LORD that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. (ESV)

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (ESV)

¹ In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
² Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king’s house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying,
³ “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.”
⁴ And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.
⁵ And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease.
⁶ Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.
⁷ At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.
⁸ Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand.
⁹ For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”
¹⁰ Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.
¹¹ The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians.
¹³ And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign.
¹⁴ They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.

¹ Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place and strengthened himself against Israel.
² He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had captured.
³ The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals,
⁴ but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel.
⁵ Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor.
⁶ His heart was courageous in the ways of the LORD. And furthermore, he took the high places and the Asherim out of Judah.
⁷ In the third year of his reign he sent his officials, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah;
⁸ and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; and with these Levites, the priests Elishama and Jehoram.
⁹ And they taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the LORD with them. They went about through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.
¹⁰ And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat.
¹¹ Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver for tribute, and the Arabians also brought him 7,700 rams and 7,700 goats.
¹² And Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater. He built in Judah fortresses and store cities,
¹³ and he had large supplies in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem.
¹⁴ This was the muster of them by fathers’ houses: Of Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander, with 300,000 mighty men of valor;
¹⁵ and next to him Jehohanan the commander, with 280,000;
¹⁶ and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, a volunteer for the service of the LORD, with 200,000 mighty men of valor.
¹⁷ Of Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valor, with 200,000 men armed with bow and shield;
¹⁸ and next to him Jehozabad with 180,000 armed for war.
¹⁹ These were in the service of the king, besides those whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.

¹ Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab.
² After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead.
³ Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.”
⁴ And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the LORD.”
⁵ Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.”
⁶ But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the LORD of whom we may inquire?”
⁷ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.”
⁸ Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.”
⁹ Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes. And they were sitting at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.
¹⁰ And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’”
¹¹ And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph. The LORD will give it into the hand of the king.”
¹² And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.”
¹³ But Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, what my God says, that I will speak.”
¹⁴ And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” And he answered, “Go up and triumph; they will be given into your hand.”
¹⁵ But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?”
¹⁶ And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’”
¹⁷ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”
¹⁸ And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.
¹⁹ And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another.
²⁰ Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’
²¹ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’
²² Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets. The LORD has declared disaster concerning you.”
²³ Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go from me to speak to you?”
²⁴ And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.”
²⁵ And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son,
²⁶ and say, ‘Thus says the king, Put this fellow in prison and feed him with meager rations of bread and water until I return in peace.’”
²⁷ And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, all you peoples!” (ESV)

¹ Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,
² and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
¹⁵ We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
¹⁹ If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
²⁰ But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
²¹ For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
²² For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
²³ But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
²⁴ Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
²⁷ For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him.
²⁸ When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
²⁹ Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?
³⁰ Why are we in danger every hour?
³¹ I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!
³² What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
³³ Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
³⁴ Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. (ESV)

A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.
¹ Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you!
² Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!
³ For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
⁴ My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread.
⁵ Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh.
⁶ I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places;
⁷ I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
⁸ All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.
⁹ For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink,
¹⁰ because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down.
¹¹ My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass. (ESV)