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)

Of David.
¹ Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
² Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
³ who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
⁵ who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
⁶ The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷ He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
⁸ The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷ But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,
¹⁸ to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.
¹⁹ The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.
²⁰ Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!
²¹ Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!
²² Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul! (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 Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
² And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
³ The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the LORD has spoken this word.
⁴ The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish.
⁵ The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.
⁶ Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.
⁷ The wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh.
⁸ The mirth of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the jubilant has ceased, the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
⁹ No more do they drink wine with singing; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰ The wasted city is broken down; every house is shut up so that none can enter.
¹¹ There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished.
¹² Desolation is left in the city; the gates are battered into ruins.
¹³ For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.
¹⁴ They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the LORD they shout from the west.
¹⁵ Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One. But I say, “I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me! For the traitors have betrayed, with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”
¹⁷ Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
¹⁸ He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.
¹⁹ The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken.
²⁰ The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again.
²¹ On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
²² They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished.
²³ Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.

¹ O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
² For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the foreigners’ palace is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
³ Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
⁴ For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,
⁵ like heat in a dry place. You subdue the noise of the foreigners; as heat by the shade of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is put down.
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.”
¹⁰ For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled down in his place, as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.
¹¹ And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim, but the LORD will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands.
¹² And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down, lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

¹ In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.
² Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
³ You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
⁴ Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.
⁵ For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust.
⁶ The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.”
⁷ The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous.
⁸ In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.
⁹ My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
¹⁰ If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the LORD.
¹¹ O LORD, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
¹² O LORD, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works.
¹³ O LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to remembrance.
¹⁴ They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them.
¹⁵ But you have increased the nation, O LORD, you have increased the nation; you are glorified; you have enlarged all the borders of the land.
¹⁶ O LORD, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them.
¹⁷ Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O LORD;
¹⁸ we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
¹⁹ Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
²⁰ Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by.
²¹ For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain. (ESV)

¹⁶ I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.
¹⁷ What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool.
¹⁸ Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.
¹⁹ For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves!
²⁰ For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.
²¹ To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.
²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.
²³ Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
²⁸ And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
³¹ The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
³² At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me,
³³ but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands. (ESV)

³² They angered him at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account,
³³ for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips.
³⁴ They did not destroy the peoples, as the LORD commanded them,
³⁵ but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did.
³⁶ They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
³⁷ They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons;
³⁸ they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.
³⁹ Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the whore in their deeds. (ESV)