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 To you, O LORD, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.
² Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.
³ Do not drag me off with the wicked, with the workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts.
⁴ Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward.
⁵ Because they do not regard the works of the LORD or the work of his hands, he will tear them down and build them up no more.
⁶ Blessed be the LORD! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
⁷ The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.
⁸ The LORD is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
⁹ Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever. (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 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of bronze.
² The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses,
³ the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses—all of them strong.
⁴ Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”
⁵ And the angel answered and said to me, “These are going out to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth.
⁶ The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go after them, and the dappled ones go toward the south country.”
⁷ When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and patrol the earth. And he said, “Go, patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth.
⁸ Then he cried to me, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country.”
⁹ And the word of the LORD came to me:
¹⁰ “Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah.
¹¹ Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest.
¹² And say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD.
¹³ It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’
¹⁴ And the crown shall be in the temple of the LORD as a reminder to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah.
¹⁵ “And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the LORD. And you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.”
¹ In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.
² Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to entreat the favor of the LORD,
³ saying to the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts and the prophets, “Should I weep and abstain in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
⁴ Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me:
⁵ “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?
⁶ And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?
⁷ Were not these the words that the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”
⁸ And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying,
⁹ “Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another,
¹⁰ do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”
¹¹ But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.
¹² They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.
¹³ “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the LORD of hosts,
¹⁴ “and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate.” (ESV)

¹⁷ I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.
¹⁸ For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
¹⁹ For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.
²⁰ The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
²¹ Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.
²² I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.
²³ Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.
²⁵ Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages
²⁶ but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—
²⁷ to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. (ESV)

¹ Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
² “How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
³ Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
⁴ If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
⁵ If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
⁶ if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation.
⁷ And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great.
⁸ “For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out.
⁹ For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow.
¹⁰ Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding?
¹¹ “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
¹² While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant.
¹³ Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish.
¹⁴ His confidence is severed, and his trust is a spider’s web.
¹⁵ He leans against his house, but it does not stand; he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
¹⁶ He is a lush plant before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden.
¹⁷ His roots entwine the stone heap; he looks upon a house of stones.
¹⁸ If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
¹⁹ Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the soil others will spring.
²⁰ “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers.
²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting.
²² Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

¹ Then Job answered and said:
² “Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God?
³ If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
⁴ He is wise in heart and mighty in strength— who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
⁵ he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger,
⁶ who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;
⁷ who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;
⁸ who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea;
⁹ who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
¹⁰ who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number.
¹¹ Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
¹² Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
¹³ “God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.
¹⁴ How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?
¹⁵ Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.
¹⁶ If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
¹⁷ For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause;
¹⁸ he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
¹⁹ If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
²⁰ Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
²¹ I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life.
²² It is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
²³ When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges— if it is not he, who then is it?
²⁵ “My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good.
²⁶ They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.
²⁷ If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,’
²⁸ I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.
²⁹ I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?
³⁰ If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
³¹ yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me.
³² For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.
³³ There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.
³⁴ Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me.
³⁵ Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.

¹ “I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
² I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.
³ Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?
⁴ Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees?
⁵ Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man’s years,
⁶ that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin,
⁷ although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand?
⁸ Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether.
⁹ Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?
¹⁰ Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
¹¹ You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
¹² You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.
¹³ Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.
¹⁴ If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
¹⁵ If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction.
¹⁶ And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me.
¹⁷ You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me.
¹⁸ “Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
¹⁹ and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.
²⁰ Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer
²¹ before I go—and I shall not return— to the land of darkness and deep shadow,
²² the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.” (ESV)

¹⁶ And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
¹⁷ And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
¹⁸ He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,
¹⁹ Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
²⁰ The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”
²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
²² When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
²³ And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.
²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
²⁶ But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
²⁷ Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”
²⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
²⁹ And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
³⁰ But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (ESV)

¹¹ My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof,
¹² for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.
¹³ Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding,
¹⁴ for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.
¹⁵ She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
¹⁶ Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
¹⁷ Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.
¹⁹ The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens;
²⁰ by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew. (ESV)