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)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.
¹ Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.
² O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.
³ When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions.
⁴ Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!
⁵ By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas;
⁶ the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might;
⁷ who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples,
⁸ so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
⁹ You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.
¹⁰ You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.
¹¹ You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
¹² The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,
¹³ the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy. (ESV)

¹ “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
² Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
³ For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,
⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
⁵ As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
⁶ But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’
⁷ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
⁸ And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
⁹ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’
¹⁰ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
¹¹ Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’
¹² But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
¹³ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (ESV)

²⁰ And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”
²¹ So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
²² And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
²³ And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
²⁴ And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.
²⁵ And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.
³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
¹ Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
² And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
³ So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (ESV)

¹⁴ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,
¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
¹⁶ Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
¹⁸ And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
¹⁹ And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.
²⁰ And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
²¹ And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching.
²² And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
²³ And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,
²⁴ “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
²⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”
²⁶ And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.
²⁷ And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
²⁸ And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. (ESV)

¹ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
² “This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest,
³ and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person,
⁴ the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.
⁵ And the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water.
⁶ He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.
⁷ And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field.
⁸ And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. And after that he may come into the camp, but live outside his tent seven days.
⁹ And on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.
¹⁰ “And on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and one log of oil.
¹¹ And the priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed and these things before the LORD, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
¹² And the priest shall take one of the male lambs and offer it for a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD.
¹³ And he shall kill the lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary. For the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy.
¹⁴ The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.
¹⁵ Then the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand
¹⁶ and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and sprinkle some oil with his finger seven times before the LORD.
¹⁷ And some of the oil that remains in his hand the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering.
¹⁸ And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. Then the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD.
¹⁹ The priest shall offer the sin offering, to make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. And afterward he shall kill the burnt offering.
²⁰ And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.
²¹ “But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil;
²² also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.
²³ And on the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, before the LORD.
²⁴ And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD.
²⁵ And he shall kill the lamb of the guilt offering. And the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.
²⁶ And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand,
²⁷ and shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD.
²⁸ And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, in the place where the blood of the guilt offering was put.
²⁹ And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the LORD.
³⁰ And he shall offer, of the turtledoves or pigeons, whichever he can afford,
³¹ one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, along with a grain offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for him who is being cleansed.
³² This is the law for him in whom is a case of leprous disease, who cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing.”
³³ The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
³⁴ “When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession,
³⁵ then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘There seems to me to be some case of disease in my house.’
³⁶ Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes to examine the disease, lest all that is in the house be declared unclean. And afterward the priest shall go in to see the house.
³⁷ And he shall examine the disease. And if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper than the surface,
³⁸ then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days.
³⁹ And the priest shall come again on the seventh day, and look. If the disease has spread in the walls of the house,
⁴⁰ then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which is the disease and throw them into an unclean place outside the city.
⁴¹ And he shall have the inside of the house scraped all around, and the plaster that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city.
⁴² Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other plaster and plaster the house.
⁴³ “If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it,
⁴⁴ then the priest shall go and look. And if the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent leprous disease in the house; it is unclean.
⁴⁵ And he shall break down the house, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them out of the city to an unclean place.
⁴⁶ Moreover, whoever enters the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening,
⁴⁷ and whoever sleeps in the house shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
⁴⁸ “But if the priest comes and looks, and if the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, for the disease is healed.
⁴⁹ And for the cleansing of the house he shall take two small birds, with cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop,
⁵⁰ and shall kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water
⁵¹ and shall take the cedarwood and the hyssop and the scarlet yarn, along with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the fresh water and sprinkle the house seven times.
⁵² Thus he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the fresh water and with the live bird and with the cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn.
⁵³ And he shall let the live bird go out of the city into the open country. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.”
⁵⁴ This is the law for any case of leprous disease: for an itch,
⁵⁵ for leprous disease in a garment or in a house,
⁵⁶ and for a swelling or an eruption or a spot,
⁵⁷ to show when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law for leprous disease. (ESV)

¹ And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”
² And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
³ And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
⁴ “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”
⁵ And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray.
⁶ Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.
⁷ And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet.
⁸ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
⁹ “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them.
¹⁰ And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.
¹¹ And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
¹² And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death.
¹³ And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
¹⁴ “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
¹⁵ Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out,
¹⁶ and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
¹⁷ And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!
¹⁸ Pray that it may not happen in winter.
¹⁹ For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be.
²⁰ And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.
²¹ And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it.
²² For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.
²³ But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.
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.
²⁸ “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.
²⁹ So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
³⁰ Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. (ESV)

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)