Midday Devotion

A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.
¹ O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
² lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.
³ O LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands,
⁴ if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause,
⁵ let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah
⁶ Arise, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
⁷ Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high.
⁸ The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.
⁹ Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous— you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God!
¹⁰ My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.
¹¹ God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
¹² If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow;
¹³ he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.
¹⁴ Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies.
¹⁵ He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made.
¹⁶ His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.
¹⁷ I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High. (ESV)

A Song of Ascents.
¹ Remember, O LORD, in David’s favor, all the hardships he endured,
² how he swore to the LORD and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
³ “I will not enter my house or get into my bed,
⁴ I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
⁵ until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
⁶ Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar.
⁷ “Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool!”
⁸ Arise, O LORD, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.
⁹ Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy.
¹⁰ For the sake of your servant David, do not turn away the face of your anointed one.
¹¹ The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.
¹² If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne.”
¹³ For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place:
¹⁴ “This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
¹⁵ I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread.
¹⁶ Her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her saints will shout for joy.
¹⁷ There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
¹⁸ His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.” (ESV)

⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,
⁴⁵ while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
⁴⁶ Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. (ESV)

¹ On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel,
² and he said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the LORD.
³ And say to the people of Israel, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering,
⁴ and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the LORD, and a grain offering mixed with oil, for today the LORD will appear to you.’”
⁵ And they brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting, and all the congregation drew near and stood before the LORD.
⁶ And Moses said, “This is the thing that the LORD commanded you to do, that the glory of the LORD may appear to you.”
⁷ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the LORD has commanded.”
⁸ So Aaron drew near to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself.
⁹ And the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar.
¹⁰ But the fat and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver from the sin offering he burned on the altar, as the LORD commanded Moses.
¹¹ The flesh and the skin he burned up with fire outside the camp.
¹² Then he killed the burnt offering, and Aaron’s sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar.
¹³ And they handed the burnt offering to him, piece by piece, and the head, and he burned them on the altar.
¹⁴ And he washed the entrails and the legs and burned them with the burnt offering on the altar.
¹⁵ Then he presented the people’s offering and took the goat of the sin offering that was for the people and killed it and offered it as a sin offering, like the first one.
¹⁶ And he presented the burnt offering and offered it according to the rule.
¹⁷ And he presented the grain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar, besides the burnt offering of the morning.
¹⁸ Then he killed the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings for the people. And Aaron’s sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar.
¹⁹ But the fat pieces of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail and that which covers the entrails and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver—
²⁰ they put the fat pieces on the breasts, and he burned the fat pieces on the altar,
²¹ but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved for a wave offering before the LORD, as Moses commanded.
²² Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings.
²³ And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people.
²⁴ And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. (ESV)

¹⁸ Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
¹⁹ And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”
²⁰ Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
²¹ And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one,
²² saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
²³ And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
²⁴ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
²⁵ For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
²⁶ For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
²⁷ But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
²⁸ Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.
²⁹ And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.
³⁰ And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah,
³¹ who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
³² Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
³³ And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.
³⁴ As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.
³⁵ And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”
³⁶ And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. (ESV)

¹ Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.
² Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”
³ But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
⁴ His father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
⁵ Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring.
⁶ Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
⁷ Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes.
⁸ After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.
⁹ He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.
¹⁰ His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do.
¹¹ As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
¹² And Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes,
¹³ but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it.”
¹⁴ And he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.” And in three days they could not solve the riddle.
¹⁵ On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?”
¹⁶ And Samson’s wife wept over him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?”
¹⁷ She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people.
¹⁸ And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.”
¹⁹ And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.
²⁰ And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.

¹ After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in.
² And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”
³ And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.”
⁴ So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails.
⁵ And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards.
⁶ Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.
⁷ And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.”
⁸ And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
⁹ Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi.
¹⁰ And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.”
¹¹ Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.”
¹² And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.”
¹³ They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
¹⁴ When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.
¹⁵ And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men.
¹⁶ And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.”
¹⁷ As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.
¹⁸ And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the LORD and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
¹⁹ And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day.
²⁰ And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. (ESV)

¹⁴ About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.
¹⁵ The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”
¹⁶ So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.
¹⁷ If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
¹⁸ The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.
¹⁹ Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”
²⁰ The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”
²¹ Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it.
²² Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
²³ If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?
²⁴ Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
²⁵ Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?
²⁶ And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?
²⁷ But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”
²⁸ So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.
²⁹ I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”
³⁰ So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
³¹ Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
³² The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
³³ Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me.
³⁴ You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.”
³⁵ The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?
³⁶ What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
³⁷ On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
³⁹ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
⁴⁰ When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.”
⁴¹ Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
⁴³ So there was a division among the people over him.
⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. (ESV)

²⁹ Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.
³⁰ The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.
³¹ If the righteous is repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!

¹ Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.
² A good man obtains favor from the LORD, but a man of evil devices he condemns.
³ No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved.
⁴ An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.
⁵ The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.
⁶ The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them.
⁷ The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand. (ESV)