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)

¹ Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
² The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
³ “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
⁴ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.
⁵ Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,
⁶ “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
⁷ I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
⁸ Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
⁹ You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
¹⁰ Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
¹² Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (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 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.
² And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
³ Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
⁴ And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel.
⁶ And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes
⁷ and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
⁸ If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.
⁹ Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.”
¹⁰ Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.
¹¹ And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?
¹² I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
¹³ But Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them,
¹⁴ and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people. For you, O LORD, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
¹⁵ Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say,
¹⁶ ‘It is because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’
¹⁷ And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying,
¹⁸ ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’
¹⁹ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”
²⁰ Then the LORD said, “I have pardoned, according to your word.
²¹ But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD,
²² none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice,
²³ shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.
²⁴ But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.
²⁵ Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.” (ESV)

¹⁸ And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
¹⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’”
²¹ And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”
²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
²³ But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
²⁴ Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
²⁵ For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
²⁶ Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
²⁷ But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
²⁸ And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.”
²⁹ And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,
³⁰ who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
³¹ And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
³² For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.
³³ And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”
³⁴ But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. (ESV)

¹ After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag.
² And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage.
³ David said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.”
⁴ And David said to him, “How did it go? Tell me.” And he answered, “The people fled from the battle, and also many of the people have fallen and are dead, and Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.”
⁵ Then David said to the young man who told him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
⁶ And the young man who told him said, “By chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and there was Saul leaning on his spear, and behold, the chariots and the horsemen were close upon him.
⁷ And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’
⁸ And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
⁹ And he said to me, ‘Stand beside me and kill me, for anguish has seized me, and yet my life still lingers.’
¹⁰ So I stood beside him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown that was on his head and the armlet that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”
¹¹ Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him.
¹² And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the LORD and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
¹³ And David said to the young man who told him, “Where do you come from?” And he answered, “I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite.”
¹⁴ David said to him, “How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”
¹⁵ Then David called one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him.” And he struck him down so that he died.
¹⁶ And David said to him, “Your blood be on your head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the LORD’s anointed.’”
¹⁷ And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son,
¹⁸ and he said it should be taught to the people of Judah; behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar. He said:
¹⁹ “Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places! How the mighty have fallen!
²⁰ Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
²¹ “You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor fields of offerings! For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.
²² “From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.
²³ “Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In life and in death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions.
²⁴ “You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet, who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.
²⁵ “How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! “Jonathan lies slain on your high places.
²⁶ I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.
²⁷ “How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished!”

¹ After this David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the LORD said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.”
² So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
³ And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron.
⁴ And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,”
⁵ David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the LORD, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him.
⁶ Now may the LORD show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing.
⁷ Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.” (ESV)

¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to their homes.
¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.
¹² And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
¹⁴ Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
¹⁹ On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
²⁴ Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
²⁶ Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
³¹ but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (ESV)

²⁰ Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
²¹ Disaster pursues sinners, but the righteous are rewarded with good.
²² A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.
²³ The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.
²⁴ Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.
²⁵ The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, but the belly of the wicked suffers want.

¹ The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.
² Whoever walks in uprightness fears the LORD, but he who is devious in his ways despises him.
³ By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back, but the lips of the wise will preserve them.
⁴ Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. (ESV)