Midday Devotion

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
¹ Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
² O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
³ But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.
⁴ Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
⁵ Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD.
⁶ There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!”
⁷ You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
⁸ In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (ESV)

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
¹ Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
² Raise a song; sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.
³ Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.
⁴ For it is a statute for Israel, a rule of the God of Jacob.
⁵ He made it a decree in Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt. I hear a language I had not known:
⁶ “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket.
⁷ In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
⁸ Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
⁹ There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
¹⁰ I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
¹¹ “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.
¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.
¹³ Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
¹⁴ I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.
¹⁵ Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever.
¹⁶ But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” (ESV)

¹⁷ Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.

²³ You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.
²⁴ So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God. (ESV)

¹ In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
² It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.
³ And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
⁴ So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.
⁵ And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
⁶ So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.
⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going.
⁸ Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king.
⁹ But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.
¹⁰ When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
¹¹ Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”
¹² Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.
¹³ And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
¹⁵ In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”
¹⁶ And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men.
¹⁷ And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died.
¹⁸ Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting.
¹⁹ And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king,
²⁰ then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?
²¹ Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”
²² So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell.
²³ The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.
²⁴ Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”
²⁵ David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”
²⁶ When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband.
²⁷ And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD. (ESV)

¹⁷ But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.
¹⁸ For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part,
¹⁹ for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
²⁰ When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.
²¹ For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.
²² What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
²³ For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
²⁵ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
²⁷ Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.
²⁸ Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
²⁹ For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
³⁰ That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
³¹ But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.
³² But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
³³ So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—
³⁴ if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come. (ESV)

He
¹ I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk. Others Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love! She
² I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.”
³ I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them?
⁴ My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me.
⁵ I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.
⁶ I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.
⁷ The watchmen found me as they went about in the city; they beat me, they bruised me, they took away my veil, those watchmen of the walls.
⁸ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love. Others
⁹ What is your beloved more than another beloved, O most beautiful among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us? She
¹⁰ My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.
¹¹ His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven.
¹² His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, sitting beside a full pool.
¹³ His cheeks are like beds of spices, mounds of sweet-smelling herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh.
¹⁴ His arms are rods of gold, set with jewels. His body is polished ivory, bedecked with sapphires.
¹⁵ His legs are alabaster columns, set on bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.
¹⁶ His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Others
¹ Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you? She
² My beloved has gone down to his garden to the beds of spices, to graze in the gardens and to gather lilies.
³ I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies. He
⁴ You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.
⁵ Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me— Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
⁶ Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from the washing; all of them bear twins; not one among them has lost its young.
⁷ Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.
⁸ There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins without number.
⁹ My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother, pure to her who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.
¹⁰ “Who is this who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?” She
¹¹ I went down to the nut orchard to look at the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vines had budded, whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
¹² Before I was aware, my desire set me among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince. Others
¹³ Return, return, O Shulammite, return, return, that we may look upon you. He Why should you look upon the Shulammite, as upon a dance before two armies?

¹ How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O noble daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand.
² Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies.
³ Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.
⁴ Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus.
⁵ Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses.
⁶ How beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved one, with all your delights!
⁷ Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters.
⁸ I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its fruit. Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples,
⁹ and your mouth like the best wine. She It goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding over lips and teeth.
¹⁰ I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.
¹¹ Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge in the villages;
¹² let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.
¹³ The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and beside our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

¹ Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me.
² I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother— she who used to teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate.
³ His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me!
⁴ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
⁵ Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor.
⁶ Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD.
⁷ Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised. Others
⁸ We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for?
⁹ If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. She
¹⁰ I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace.
¹¹ Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
¹² My vineyard, my very own, is before me; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred. He
¹³ O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it. She
¹⁴ Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices. (ESV)

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
²⁸ And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
³⁰ Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
³¹ But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

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)

A Psalm for giving thanks.
¹ Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
² Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
³ Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
⁵ For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. (ESV)