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)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
¹ May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
² May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion!
³ May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah
⁴ May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!
⁵ May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!
⁶ Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand.
⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
⁸ They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.
⁹ O LORD, save the king! May he answer us when we call. (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 “At that time, declares the LORD, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”
² Thus says the LORD: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest,
³ the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
⁴ Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
⁵ Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit.
⁶ For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim: ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.’”
⁷ For thus says the LORD: “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’
⁸ Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.
⁹ With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
¹⁰ “Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
¹¹ For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
¹² They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more.
¹³ Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
¹⁴ I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the LORD.”
¹⁵ Thus says the LORD: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
¹⁶ Thus says the LORD: “Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷ There is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own country.

²³ Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: “‘The LORD bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill!’
²⁴ And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks.
²⁵ For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”
²⁶ At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.
²⁷ “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.
²⁸ And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the LORD.
²⁹ In those days they shall no longer say: “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
³⁰ But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
³¹ “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
³² not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.
³³ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
³⁴ And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (ESV)

¹ When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
² And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.
³ Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders,
⁴ saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”
⁵ And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.
⁶ But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.”
⁷ So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers.
⁸ Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
⁹ Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel,
¹⁰ and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.” (ESV)

¹ The word of the LORD came to me:
² “Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: “Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’
³ For the day is near, the day of the LORD is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.
⁴ A sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish shall be in Cush, when the slain fall in Egypt, and her wealth is carried away, and her foundations are torn down.
⁵ Cush, and Put, and Lud, and all Arabia, and Libya, and the people of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.
⁶ “Thus says the LORD: Those who support Egypt shall fall, and her proud might shall come down; from Migdol to Syene they shall fall within her by the sword, declares the Lord GOD.
⁷ And they shall be desolated in the midst of desolated countries, and their cities shall be in the midst of cities that are laid waste.
⁸ Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have set fire to Egypt, and all her helpers are broken.
⁹ “On that day messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting people of Cush, and anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom; for, behold, it comes!
¹⁰ “Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will put an end to the wealth of Egypt, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
¹¹ He and his people with him, the most ruthless of nations, shall be brought in to destroy the land, and they shall draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain.
¹² And I will dry up the Nile and will sell the land into the hand of evildoers; I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it, by the hand of foreigners; I am the LORD; I have spoken.
¹³ “Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis; there shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt; so I will put fear in the land of Egypt.
¹⁴ I will make Pathros a desolation and will set fire to Zoan and will execute judgments on Thebes.
¹⁵ And I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium, the stronghold of Egypt, and cut off the multitude of Thebes.
¹⁶ And I will set fire to Egypt; Pelusium shall be in great agony; Thebes shall be breached, and Memphis shall face enemies by day.
¹⁷ The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword, and the women shall go into captivity.
¹⁸ At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark, when I break there the yoke bars of Egypt, and her proud might shall come to an end in her; she shall be covered by a cloud, and her daughters shall go into captivity.
¹⁹ Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”
²⁰ In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
²¹ “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, it has not been bound up, to heal it by binding it with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword.
²² Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand.
²³ I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries.
²⁴ And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a man mortally wounded.
²⁵ I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt.
²⁶ And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

¹ In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
² “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: “Whom are you like in your greatness?
³ Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches and forest shade, and of towering height, its top among the clouds.
⁴ The waters nourished it; the deep made it grow tall, making its rivers flow around the place of its planting, sending forth its streams to all the trees of the field.
⁵ So it towered high above all the trees of the field; its boughs grew large and its branches long from abundant water in its shoots.
⁶ All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth to their young, and under its shadow lived all great nations.
⁷ It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its roots went down to abundant waters.
⁸ The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it, nor the fir trees equal its boughs; neither were the plane trees like its branches; no tree in the garden of God was its equal in beauty.
⁹ I made it beautiful in the mass of its branches, and all the trees of Eden envied it, that were in the garden of God.
¹⁰ “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height,
¹¹ I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out.
¹² Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land, and all the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it.
¹³ On its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field.
¹⁴ All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds, and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, to the world below, among the children of man, with those who go down to the pit.
¹⁵ “Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day the cedar went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it.
¹⁶ I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the world below.
¹⁷ They also went down to Sheol with it, to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were its arm, who lived under its shadow among the nations.
¹⁸ “Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. “This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.” (ESV)

¹ Let brotherly love continue.
² Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
³ Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
⁴ Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
⁵ Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
⁶ So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
⁷ Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
⁹ Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.
¹¹ For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.
¹² So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
¹³ Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.
¹⁴ For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
¹⁵ Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
¹⁶ Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
¹⁷ Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
¹⁸ Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.
¹⁹ I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.
²⁰ Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,
²¹ equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
²² I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.
²³ You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon.
²⁴ Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings.
²⁵ Grace be with all of you. (ESV)

²³ Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds,
²⁴ for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations?
²⁵ When the grass is gone and the new growth appears and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered,
²⁶ the lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats the price of a field.
²⁷ There will be enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household and maintenance for your girls.

¹ The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.
² When a land transgresses, it has many rulers, but with a man of understanding and knowledge, its stability will long continue.
³ A poor man who oppresses the poor is a beating rain that leaves no food.
⁴ Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive against them.
⁵ Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it completely.
⁶ Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways. (ESV)