Night Watch Devotion

¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
³ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
⁹ Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge—
¹⁰ no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
¹² On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
¹⁴ “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
¹⁵ When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (ESV)

A Song of Ascents. Of David.
¹ If it had not been the LORD who was on our side— let Israel now say—
² if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us,
³ then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;
⁴ then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us;
⁵ then over us would have gone the raging waters.
⁶ Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth!
⁷ We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!
⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. (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)

¹⁵ Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written.
¹⁶ The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
¹⁷ When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.”
¹⁸ But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.”
¹⁹ And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
²⁰ He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.
²¹ And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?”
²² And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
²³ For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’
²⁴ So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
²⁵ And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies),
²⁶ then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the LORD’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.
²⁷ And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’”
²⁸ And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.
²⁹ And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”
³⁰ The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
³¹ So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold.
³² But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”
³³ But the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.
³⁴ But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”
³⁵ Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made. (ESV)

³⁹ He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?
⁴⁰ A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.
⁴¹ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
⁴² How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
⁴³ “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,
⁴⁴ for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
⁴⁵ The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
⁴⁶ “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
⁴⁷ Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:
⁴⁸ he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
⁴⁹ But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” (ESV)

¹ After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the LORD, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”
² The LORD said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.”
³ And Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will go with you into the territory allotted to you.” So Simeon went with him.
⁴ Then Judah went up and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek.
⁵ They found Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
⁶ Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
⁷ And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
⁸ And the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.
⁹ And afterward the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negeb, and in the lowland.
¹⁰ And Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba), and they defeated Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.
¹¹ From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir was formerly Kiriath-sepher.
¹² And Caleb said, “He who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him Achsah my daughter as wife.”
¹³ And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.
¹⁴ When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?”
¹⁵ She said to him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water.” And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
¹⁶ And the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the Negeb near Arad, and they went and settled with the people.
¹⁷ And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and devoted it to destruction. So the name of the city was called Hormah.
¹⁸ Judah also captured Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.
¹⁹ And the LORD was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.
²⁰ And Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had said. And he drove out from it the three sons of Anak.
²¹ But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
²² The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.
²³ And the house of Joseph scouted out Bethel. (Now the name of the city was formerly Luz.)
²⁴ And the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the way into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.”
²⁵ And he showed them the way into the city. And they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go.
²⁶ And the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city and called its name Luz. That is its name to this day.
²⁷ Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land.
²⁸ When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely.
²⁹ And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
³⁰ Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor.
³¹ Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon or of Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah or of Aphik or of Rehob,
³² so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.
³³ Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.
³⁴ The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain.
³⁵ The Amorites persisted in dwelling in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labor.
³⁶ And the border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.

¹ Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,
² and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?
³ So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”
⁴ As soon as the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
⁵ And they called the name of that place Bochim. And they sacrificed there to the LORD. (ESV)

¹ Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
² (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples),
³ he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.
⁴ And he had to pass through Samaria.
⁵ So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
⁶ Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
⁷ A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
⁸ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)
⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?
¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”
¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’;
¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”
²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” (ESV)

⁹ With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.
¹⁰ When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.
¹¹ By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.
¹² Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.
¹³ Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.
¹⁴ Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
¹⁵ Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm, but he who hates striking hands in pledge is secure.
¹⁶ A gracious woman gets honor, and violent men get riches.
¹⁷ A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.
¹⁸ The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward. (ESV)