Midday Devotion

A Song of Ascents.
¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
² My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
³ He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
⁵ The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
⁷ The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
⁸ The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. (ESV)

A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of the temple.
¹ I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
² O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
³ O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
⁴ Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.
⁵ For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
⁶ As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
⁷ By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
⁸ To you, O LORD, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
⁹ “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?
¹⁰ Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!”
¹¹ You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
¹² that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever! (ESV)

¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”
¹⁴ I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
¹⁵ “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
¹⁶ They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
¹⁷ For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (ESV)

¹ When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,
² “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man,
³ and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’”
⁴ Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe.
⁵ And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel,
⁶ that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’
⁷ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”
⁸ And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the LORD told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there.
⁹ And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.
¹⁰ For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people passed over in haste.
¹¹ And when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the LORD and the priests passed over before the people.
¹² The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the people of Israel, as Moses had told them.
¹³ About 40,000 ready for war passed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho.
¹⁴ On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.
¹⁵ And the LORD said to Joshua,
¹⁶ “Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan.”
¹⁷ So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.”
¹⁸ And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before.
¹⁹ The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.
²⁰ And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.
²¹ And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’
²² then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’
²³ For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over,
²⁴ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.” (ESV)

²³ When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him,
²⁴ but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him,
²⁵ but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
²⁶ And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.
²⁷ But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
²⁸ So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.
²⁹ And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him.
³⁰ And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
³¹ So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
³² Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.
³³ There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed.
³⁴ And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose.
³⁵ And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
³⁶ Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.
³⁷ In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.
³⁸ Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.”
³⁹ So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them.
⁴⁰ But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.
⁴¹ And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.
⁴² And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.
⁴³ And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner. (ESV)

¹ For three years Syria and Israel continued without war.
² But in the third year Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.
³ And the king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and we keep quiet and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?”
⁴ And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”
⁵ And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the LORD.”
⁶ Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”
⁷ But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the LORD of whom we may inquire?”
⁸ 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 evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.”
⁹ Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.”
¹⁰ Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.
¹¹ 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.’”
¹² 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.”
¹³ 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.”
¹⁴ But Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I will speak.”
¹⁵ And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?” And he answered him, “Go up and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king.”
¹⁶ 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?”
¹⁷ 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.’”
¹⁸ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”
¹⁹ 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 beside him on his right hand and on his left;
²⁰ and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another.
²¹ Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’
²² And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ 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.’
²³ Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you.”
²⁴ Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “How did the Spirit of the LORD go from me to speak to you?”
²⁵ And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.”
²⁶ 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,
²⁷ and say, ‘Thus says the king, “Put this fellow in prison and feed him meager rations of bread and water, until I come in peace.”’”
²⁸ And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, all you peoples!”
²⁹ So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.
³⁰ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
³¹ Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, “Fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel.”
³² And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is surely the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out.
³³ And when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.
³⁴ But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.”
³⁵ And the battle continued that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, until at evening he died. And the blood of the wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot.
³⁶ And about sunset a cry went through the army, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!”
³⁷ So the king died, and was brought to Samaria. And they buried the king in Samaria.
³⁸ And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the LORD that he had spoken.
³⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did, and the ivory house that he built and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
⁴⁰ So Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.
⁴¹ Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.
⁴² Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.
⁴³ He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the LORD. Yet the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.
⁴⁴ Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.
⁴⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he showed, and how he warred, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
⁴⁶ And from the land he exterminated the remnant of the male cult prostitutes who remained in the days of his father Asa.
⁴⁷ There was no king in Edom; a deputy was king.
⁴⁸ Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, for the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.
⁴⁹ Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships,” but Jehoshaphat was not willing.
⁵⁰ And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.
⁵¹ Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel.
⁵² He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
⁵³ He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done. (ESV)

¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.
¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”
¹⁶ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
¹⁷ And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.
¹⁸ Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.
¹⁹ And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.
²⁰ So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
²¹ Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”
²² And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.
²³ About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way.
²⁴ For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.
²⁵ These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.
²⁶ And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods.
²⁷ And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”
²⁸ When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
²⁹ So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s companions in travel.
³⁰ But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.
³¹ And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.
³² Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.
³³ Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd.
³⁴ But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
³⁵ And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky?
³⁶ Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.
³⁷ For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.
³⁸ If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.
³⁹ But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly.
⁴⁰ For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.”
⁴¹ And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly. (ESV)

³¹ The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.
³² Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.
³³ The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

¹ The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.
² All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit.
³ Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.
⁴ The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
⁵ Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.
⁶ By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.
⁷ When a man’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. (ESV)