Night Watch Devotion

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
¹ Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
⁶ Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;
¹⁹ then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar. (ESV)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.
¹ God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him!
² As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!
³ But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy!
⁴ Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the LORD; exult before him!
⁵ Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
⁶ God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
⁷ O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
⁸ the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.
⁹ Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad; you restored your inheritance as it languished;
¹⁰ your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.
¹¹ The Lord gives the word; the women who announce the news are a great host:
¹² “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!” The women at home divide the spoil—
¹³ though you men lie among the sheepfolds— the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with shimmering gold.
¹⁴ When the Almighty scatters kings there, let snow fall on Zalmon.
¹⁵ O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan; O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
¹⁶ Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode, yes, where the LORD will dwell forever?
¹⁷ The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
¹⁸ You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.
¹⁹ Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah
²⁰ Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
²¹ But God will strike the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.
²² The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
²³ that you may strike your feet in their blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.”
²⁴ Your procession is seen, O God, the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—
²⁵ the singers in front, the musicians last, between them virgins playing tambourines:
²⁶ “Bless God in the great congregation, the LORD, O you who are of Israel’s fountain!”
²⁷ There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead, the princes of Judah in their throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.
²⁸ Summon your power, O God, the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.
²⁹ Because of your temple at Jerusalem kings shall bear gifts to you.
³⁰ Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute; scatter the peoples who delight in war.
³¹ Nobles shall come from Egypt; Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.
³² O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, Selah
³³ to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.
³⁴ Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies.
³⁵ Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God! (ESV)

²³ Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. (ESV)

¹ Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.”
² And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
³ In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground,
⁴ and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering,
⁵ but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
⁶ The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?
⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.”
⁸ Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
⁹ Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”
¹⁰ And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.
¹¹ And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
¹² When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
¹³ Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.
¹⁴ Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
¹⁵ Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.
¹⁶ Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
¹⁷ Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.
¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.
¹⁹ And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
²⁰ Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.
²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.
²² Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
²³ Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.
²⁴ If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”
²⁵ And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
²⁶ To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD. (ESV)

¹⁸ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
²⁰ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.
²¹ No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.
²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”
²³ One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.
²⁴ And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
²⁵ And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him:
²⁶ how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”
²⁷ And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
²⁸ So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” (ESV)

¹ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
² “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
³ Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
⁴ Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the LORD your God.
⁵ “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.
⁶ It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire.
⁷ If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is tainted; it will not be accepted,
⁸ and everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned what is holy to the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from his people.
⁹ “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.
¹⁰ And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.
¹¹ “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.
¹² You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
¹³ “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.
¹⁴ You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.
¹⁵ “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
¹⁶ You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.
¹⁷ “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.
¹⁸ You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
¹⁹ “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.
²⁰ “If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free;
²¹ but he shall bring his compensation to the LORD, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering.
²² And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.
²³ “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten.
²⁴ And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD.
²⁵ But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the LORD your God.
²⁶ “You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.
²⁷ You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.
²⁸ You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.
²⁹ “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity.
³⁰ You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
³¹ “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.
³² “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.
³³ “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
³⁴ You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
³⁵ “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity.
³⁶ You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
³⁷ And you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the LORD.”

¹ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
² “Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.
³ I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name.
⁴ And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death,
⁵ then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech.
⁶ “If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.
⁷ Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.
⁸ Keep my statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
⁹ For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.
¹⁰ “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
¹¹ If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
¹² If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed perversion; their blood is upon them.
¹³ If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
¹⁴ If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you.
¹⁵ If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.
¹⁶ If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
¹⁷ “If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity.
¹⁸ If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
¹⁹ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to make naked one’s relative; they shall bear their iniquity.
²⁰ If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.
²¹ If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.
²² “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.
²³ And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.
²⁴ But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
²⁵ You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean.
²⁶ You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.
²⁷ “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.” (ESV)

⁴³ And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
⁴⁴ Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.”
⁴⁵ And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, “Rabbi!” And he kissed him.
⁴⁶ And they laid hands on him and seized him.
⁴⁷ But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.
⁴⁸ And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me?
⁴⁹ Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.”
⁵⁰ And they all left him and fled.
⁵¹ And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him,
⁵² but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.
⁵³ And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together.
⁵⁴ And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.
⁵⁵ Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none.
⁵⁶ For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree.
⁵⁷ And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying,
⁵⁸ “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’”
⁵⁹ Yet even about this their testimony did not agree.
⁶⁰ And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?”
⁶¹ But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”
⁶² And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
⁶³ And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need?
⁶⁴ You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death.
⁶⁵ And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.
⁶⁶ And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came,
⁶⁷ and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.”
⁶⁸ But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed.
⁶⁹ And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.”
⁷⁰ But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”
⁷¹ But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.”
⁷² And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept. (ESV)

³⁰ People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
³¹ but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house.
³² He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.
³³ He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
³⁴ For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge.
³⁵ He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts. (ESV)