Night Watch Devotion

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
¹ O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.
² Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.
³ My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O LORD—how long?
⁴ Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
⁵ For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?
⁶ I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.
⁷ My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.
⁸ Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
⁹ The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD accepts my prayer.
¹⁰ All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled; they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment. (ESV)

A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
¹ O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me;
² many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah
³ But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.
⁴ I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah
⁵ I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
⁶ I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.
⁷ Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.
⁸ Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people! Selah (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)

²⁶ And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
²⁷ “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me.
²⁸ Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you:
²⁹ your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me,
³⁰ not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
³¹ But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.
³² But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
³³ And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.
³⁴ According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’
³⁵ I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”
³⁶ And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land—
³⁷ the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the LORD.
³⁸ Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.
³⁹ When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly.
⁴⁰ And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the LORD has promised, for we have sinned.”
⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the LORD, when that will not succeed?
⁴² Do not go up, for the LORD is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies.
⁴³ For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the LORD, the LORD will not be with you.”
⁴⁴ But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses departed out of the camp.
⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah. (ESV)

³⁵ As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.
³⁶ And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant.
³⁷ They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
³⁸ And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
³⁹ And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
⁴⁰ And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him,
⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.”
⁴² And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.”
⁴³ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
¹ He entered Jericho and was passing through.
² And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.
³ And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.
⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.
⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
⁶ So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.
⁷ And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
⁸ And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.
¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (ESV)

⁸ But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim,
⁹ and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel.
¹⁰ Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.
¹¹ And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
¹² Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
¹³ And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool.
¹⁴ And Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men arise and compete before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.”
¹⁵ Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.
¹⁶ And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side, so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is at Gibeon.
¹⁷ And the battle was very fierce that day. And Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.
¹⁸ And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle.
¹⁹ And Asahel pursued Abner, and as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner.
²⁰ Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is it you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.”
²¹ Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men and take his spoil.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.
²² And Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?”
²³ But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.
²⁴ But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. And as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.
²⁵ And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Abner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill.
²⁶ Then Abner called to Joab, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers?”
²⁷ And Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning.”
²⁸ So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore.
²⁹ And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to Mahanaim.
³⁰ Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David’s servants nineteen men besides Asahel.
³¹ But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner’s men.
³² And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.

¹ There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.
² And sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel;
³ and his second, Chileab, of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;
⁴ and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;
⁵ and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David’s wife. These were born to David in Hebron.
⁶ While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul.
⁷ Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-bosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to my father’s concubine?”
⁸ Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, “Am I a dog’s head of Judah? To this day I keep showing steadfast love to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David. And yet you charge me today with a fault concerning a woman.
⁹ God do so to Abner and more also, if I do not accomplish for David what the LORD has sworn to him,
¹⁰ to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.”
¹¹ And Ish-bosheth could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him.
¹² And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, “To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring over all Israel to you.”
¹³ And he said, “Good; I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you; that is, you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when you come to see my face.”
¹⁴ Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bridal price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.”
¹⁵ And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband Paltiel the son of Laish.
¹⁶ But her husband went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go, return.” And he returned.
¹⁷ And Abner conferred with the elders of Israel, saying, “For some time past you have been seeking David as king over you.
¹⁸ Now then bring it about, for the LORD has promised David, saying, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from the hand of all their enemies.’”
¹⁹ Abner also spoke to Benjamin. And then Abner went to tell David at Hebron all that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin thought good to do.
²⁰ When Abner came with twenty men to David at Hebron, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him.
²¹ And Abner said to David, “I will arise and go and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires.” So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace. (ESV)

¹ After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.
² Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.
³ Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
⁴ Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
⁵ Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.”
⁶ He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.
⁷ That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.
⁸ The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.
⁹ When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread.
¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”
¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.
¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.
¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.
¹⁴ This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
¹⁵ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
¹⁶ He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
¹⁷ He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
¹⁸ Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”
¹⁹ (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
²⁰ Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?”
²¹ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”
²² Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”
²³ So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”
²⁴ This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
²⁵ Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (ESV)

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.
¹ Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
² I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
³ I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.
⁴ More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?
⁵ O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
⁶ Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.
⁷ For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.
⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons.
⁹ For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
¹⁰ When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
¹¹ When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
¹² I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me. (ESV)