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.
¹ May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
² May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion!
³ May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah
⁴ May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!
⁵ May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!
⁶ Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand.
⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
⁸ They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.
⁹ O LORD, save the king! May he answer us when we call. (ESV)

¹⁴ for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (ESV)

¹ A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.
² The rich and the poor meet together; the LORD is the Maker of them all.
³ The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.
⁴ The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.
⁵ Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked; whoever guards his soul will keep far from them.
⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
⁷ The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
⁸ Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.
⁹ Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.
¹⁰ Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease.
¹¹ He who loves purity of heart, and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.
¹² The eyes of the LORD keep watch over knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the traitor.
¹³ The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”
¹⁴ The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit; he with whom the LORD is angry will fall into it.
¹⁵ Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
¹⁶ Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.
¹⁷ Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge,
¹⁸ for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.
¹⁹ That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today, even to you.
²⁰ Have I not written for you thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge,
²¹ to make you know what is right and true, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you? (ESV)

¹ When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.
² Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.
³ So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
⁴ Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”
⁵ They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.
⁶ When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
⁷ So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
⁸ Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.”
⁹ This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.”
¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)
¹¹ So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
¹² So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.
¹³ First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
¹⁴ It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. (ESV)

¹ In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.
² The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
³ The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house.
⁴ And he made for the house windows with recessed frames.
⁵ He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around.
⁶ The lowest story was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.
⁷ When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.
⁸ The entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third.
⁹ So he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar.
¹⁰ He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.
¹¹ Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon,
¹² “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.
¹³ And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”
¹⁴ So Solomon built the house and finished it.
¹⁵ He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress.
¹⁶ He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place.
¹⁷ The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long.
¹⁸ The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen.
¹⁹ The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.
²⁰ The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar.
²¹ And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold.
²² And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.
²³ In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high.
²⁴ Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other.
²⁵ The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form.
²⁶ The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub.
²⁷ He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. And the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house.
²⁸ And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.
²⁹ Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms.
³⁰ The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.
³¹ For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.
³² He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.
³³ So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square,
³⁴ and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.
³⁵ On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work.
³⁶ He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.
³⁷ In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid, in the month of Ziv.
³⁸ And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.

¹ Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished his entire house.
² He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was a hundred cubits and its breadth fifty cubits and its height thirty cubits, and it was built on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.
³ And it was covered with cedar above the chambers that were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen in each row.
⁴ There were window frames in three rows, and window opposite window in three tiers.
⁵ All the doorways and windows had square frames, and window was opposite window in three tiers.
⁶ And he made the Hall of Pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth thirty cubits. There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them.
⁷ And he made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, even the Hall of Judgment. It was finished with cedar from floor to rafters.
⁸ His own house where he was to dwell, in the other court at the back of the hall, was of like workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter whom he had taken in marriage.
⁹ All these were made of costly stones, cut according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front, even from the foundation to the coping, and from the outside to the great court.
¹⁰ The foundation was of costly stones, huge stones, stones of eight and ten cubits.
¹¹ And above were costly stones, cut according to measurement, and cedar.
¹² The great court had three courses of cut stone all around, and a course of cedar beams; so had the inner court of the house of the LORD and the vestibule of the house.
¹³ And King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre.
¹⁴ He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze. And he was full of wisdom, understanding, and skill for making any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his work.
¹⁵ He cast two pillars of bronze. Eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits measured its circumference. It was hollow, and its thickness was four fingers. The second pillar was the same.
¹⁶ He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.
¹⁷ There were lattices of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars, a lattice for the one capital and a lattice for the other capital.
¹⁸ Likewise he made pomegranates in two rows around the one latticework to cover the capital that was on the top of the pillar, and he did the same with the other capital.
¹⁹ Now the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily-work, four cubits.
²⁰ The capitals were on the two pillars and also above the rounded projection which was beside the latticework. There were two hundred pomegranates in two rows all around, and so with the other capital.
²¹ He set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple. He set up the pillar on the south and called its name Jachin, and he set up the pillar on the north and called its name Boaz.
²² And on the tops of the pillars was lily-work. Thus the work of the pillars was finished. (ESV)

¹³ Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem,
¹⁴ but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.
¹⁵ After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”
¹⁶ So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.
¹⁷ The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.
¹⁸ And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.
¹⁹ And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.
²⁰ All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
²¹ Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
²² And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’
²³ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.
²⁴ Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
²⁵ And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
²⁶ “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.
²⁷ For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.
²⁸ And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.
²⁹ And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
³⁰ But God raised him from the dead,
³¹ and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.
³² And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,
³³ this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’
³⁴ And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
³⁵ Therefore he says also in another psalm, “‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’
³⁶ For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,
³⁷ but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.
³⁸ Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
³⁹ and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
⁴⁰ Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:
⁴¹ “‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’” (ESV)

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.
¹ We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.
² “At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity.
³ When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah
⁴ I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;
⁵ do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with haughty neck.’”
⁶ For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
⁷ but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.
⁸ For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
⁹ But I will declare it forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
¹⁰ All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up. (ESV)