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: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.
¹ Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
² Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
³ because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me.
⁴ My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
⁵ Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.
⁶ And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;
⁷ yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
⁸ I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.”
⁹ Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues; for I see violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it;
¹¹ ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.
¹² For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him.
¹³ But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.
¹⁴ We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.
¹⁵ Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.
¹⁶ But I call to God, and the LORD will save me.
¹⁷ Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me.
¹⁹ God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, Selah because they do not change and do not fear God.
²⁰ My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant.
²¹ His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.
²² Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
²³ But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you. (ESV)

²⁴ “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
²⁵ and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
²⁶ And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
²⁷ And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (ESV)

¹ Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
² He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;
³ a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.
⁴ He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.
⁵ Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:
⁶ “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,
⁷ to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.
⁸ I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
⁹ Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
¹⁰ Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.
¹¹ Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
¹² Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare his praise in the coastlands.
¹³ The LORD goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.
¹⁴ For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.
¹⁵ I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools.
¹⁶ And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.
¹⁷ They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.”
¹⁸ Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!
¹⁹ Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the LORD?
²⁰ He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.
²¹ The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious.
²² But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say, “Restore!”
²³ Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come?
²⁴ Who gave up Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?
²⁵ So he poured on him the heat of his anger and the might of battle; it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand; it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart. (ESV)

¹ When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
² Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
³ And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,
⁴ and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.
⁵ Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
⁶ Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
⁷ The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
⁸ The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
⁹ A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
¹⁰ The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
¹¹ The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
¹² The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
¹³ Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” (ESV)

¹¹ This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of the LORD and his statutes for Israel:
¹² “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven. Peace. And now
¹³ I make a decree that anyone of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom, who freely offers to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.
¹⁴ For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God, which is in your hand,
¹⁵ and also to carry the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,
¹⁶ with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God that is in Jerusalem.
¹⁷ With this money, then, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God that is in Jerusalem.
¹⁸ Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God.
¹⁹ The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem.
²⁰ And whatever else is required for the house of your God, which it falls to you to provide, you may provide it out of the king’s treasury.
²¹ “And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence,
²² up to 100 talents of silver, 100 cors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.
²³ Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons.
²⁴ We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on anyone of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.
²⁵ “And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God. And those who do not know them, you shall teach.
²⁶ Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.”
²⁷ Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem,
²⁸ and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the LORD my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

¹ These are the heads of their fathers’ houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king:
² Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush.
³ Of the sons of Shecaniah, who was of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, with whom were registered 150 men.
⁴ Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men.
⁵ Of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men.
⁶ Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men.
⁷ Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men.
⁸ Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him 80 men.
⁹ Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men.
¹⁰ Of the sons of Bani, Shelomith the son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men.
¹¹ Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah, the son of Bebai, and with him 28 men.
¹² Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men.
¹³ Of the sons of Adonikam, those who came later, their names being Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men.
¹⁴ Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men. (ESV)

¹ And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.
² And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.
³ One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.
⁴ And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”
⁵ And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.
⁶ It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
⁷ Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation,
⁸ and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
⁹ If anyone has an ear, let him hear:
¹⁰ If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
¹¹ Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.
¹² It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.
¹³ It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people,
¹⁴ and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
¹⁵ And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
¹⁶ Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,
¹⁷ so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
¹⁸ This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. (ESV)

¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. [The LORD is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.]
¹⁴ The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
¹⁶ You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
¹⁷ The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.
¹⁸ The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹ He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.
²⁰ The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever. (ESV)