Night Watch 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)

Of David.
¹ Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!
² Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help!
³ Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, “I am your salvation!”
⁴ Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me!
⁵ Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away!
⁶ Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them!
⁷ For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life.
⁸ Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it—to his destruction!
⁹ Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD, exulting in his salvation.
¹⁰ All my bones shall say, “O LORD, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?”
¹¹ Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know.
¹² They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft.
¹³ But I, when they were sick— I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
¹⁴ I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.
¹⁵ But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing;
¹⁶ like profane mockers at a feast, they gnash at me with their teeth.
¹⁷ How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!
¹⁸ I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.
¹⁹ Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause.
²⁰ For they do not speak peace, but against those who are quiet in the land they devise words of deceit.
²¹ They open wide their mouths against me; they say, “Aha, Aha! Our eyes have seen it!”
²² You have seen, O LORD; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me!
²³ Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord!
²⁴ Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me!
²⁵ Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, our heart’s desire!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”
²⁶ Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether who rejoice at my calamity! Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me!
²⁷ Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!”
²⁸ Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long. (ESV)

¹ Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.
² For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
³ While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
⁴ But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
⁵ For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
⁶ So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. (ESV)

¹ There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
² There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
³ He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.
⁴ His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
⁵ And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
⁷ The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
⁸ And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
⁹ Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?
¹⁰ Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
¹¹ But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
¹² And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
¹³ Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
¹⁴ and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,
¹⁵ and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
¹⁶ While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
¹⁷ While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
¹⁸ While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
¹⁹ and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
²⁰ Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.
²¹ And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
²² In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. (ESV)

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
² He was in the beginning with God.
³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
⁷ He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
⁹ The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)
¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (ESV)

¹ “But now, hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words.
² Behold, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks.
³ My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely.
⁴ The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
⁵ Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand.
⁶ Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was pinched off from a piece of clay.
⁷ Behold, no fear of me need terrify you; my pressure will not be heavy upon you.
⁸ “Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of your words.
⁹ You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.
¹⁰ Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy,
¹¹ he puts my feet in the stocks and watches all my paths.’
¹² “Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you, for God is greater than man.
¹³ Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of man’s words’?
¹⁴ For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.
¹⁵ In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds,
¹⁶ then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings,
¹⁷ that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man;
¹⁸ he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.
¹⁹ “Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones,
²⁰ so that his life loathes bread, and his appetite the choicest food.
²¹ His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.
²² His soul draws near the pit, and his life to those who bring death.
²³ If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him,
²⁴ and he is merciful to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom;
²⁵ let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;
²⁶ then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness.
²⁷ He sings before men and says: ‘I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me.
²⁸ He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’
²⁹ “Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man,
³⁰ to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.
³¹ Pay attention, O Job, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.
³² If you have any words, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you.
³³ If not, listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

¹ Then Elihu answered and said:
² “Hear my words, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know;
³ for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.
⁴ Let us choose what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.
⁵ For Job has said, ‘I am in the right, and God has taken away my right;
⁶ in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
⁷ What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water,
⁸ who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men?
⁹ For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God.’
¹⁰ “Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.
¹¹ For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him.
¹² Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.
¹³ Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world?
¹⁴ If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath,
¹⁵ all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.
¹⁶ “If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I say.
¹⁷ Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,
¹⁸ who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’
¹⁹ who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?
²⁰ In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.
²¹ “For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps.
²² There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves.
²³ For God has no need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment.
²⁴ He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place.
²⁵ Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
²⁶ He strikes them for their wickedness in a place for all to see,
²⁷ because they turned aside from following him and had no regard for any of his ways,
²⁸ so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted—
²⁹ When he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man?—
³⁰ that a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people.
³¹ “For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;
³² teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
³³ Will he then make repayment to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know.
³⁴ Men of understanding will say to me, and the wise man who hears me will say:
³⁵ ‘Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.’
³⁶ Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men.
³⁷ For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.” (ESV)

¹ Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat,
³ so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,
⁶ and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues
⁷ and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.
⁸ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.
⁹ And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
¹⁰ Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
¹¹ The greatest among you shall be your servant.
¹² Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
¹³ “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
¹⁵ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’
¹⁷ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?
¹⁸ And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’
¹⁹ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
²¹ And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it.
²² And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
²⁴ You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
²⁶ You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.
²⁸ So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
²⁹ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,
³⁰ saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
³¹ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
³² Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
³³ You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
³⁴ Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,
³⁵ so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
³⁶ Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
³⁷ “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
³⁸ See, your house is left to you desolate.
³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (ESV)

²⁵ With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
²⁶ with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
²⁷ For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.
²⁸ For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness.
²⁹ For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
³⁰ This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
³¹ For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?—
³² the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless.
³³ He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights.
³⁴ He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
³⁵ You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great.
³⁶ You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip. (ESV)