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)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
¹ O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
² You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
³ For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
⁴ He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever.
⁵ His glory is great through your salvation; splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
⁶ For you make him most blessed forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
⁷ For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.
⁸ Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you.
⁹ You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.
¹⁰ You will destroy their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from among the children of man.
¹¹ Though they plan evil against you, though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
¹² For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.
¹³ Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power. (ESV)

¹ Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.
² For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
³ While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
⁴ But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
⁵ For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
⁶ So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. (ESV)

²² Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate,
²³ for the LORD will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them.
²⁴ Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man,
²⁵ lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
²⁶ Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts.
²⁷ If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?
²⁸ Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set.
²⁹ Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.
¹ When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you,
² and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.
³ Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
⁴ Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.
⁵ When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
⁶ Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies,
⁷ for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
⁸ You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words.
⁹ Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.
¹⁰ Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless,
¹¹ for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.
¹² Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge. (ESV)

¹⁵ Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest,
¹⁶ but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in.
¹⁷ The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”
¹⁸ Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.
¹⁹ The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
²⁰ Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.
²¹ Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.”
²² When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”
²³ Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”
²⁴ Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
²⁵ Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.”
²⁶ One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?”
²⁷ Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.
²⁸ Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.
²⁹ So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
³⁰ They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.”
³¹ Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”
³² This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
³³ So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
³⁴ Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”
³⁵ Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”
³⁶ Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
³⁷ Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
³⁸ Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.
³⁹ But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
⁴⁰ They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber. (ESV)

²³ Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.
²⁴ Under its brim were gourds, for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast.
²⁵ It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward.
²⁶ Its thickness was a handbreadth, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.
²⁷ He also made the ten stands of bronze. Each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.
²⁸ This was the construction of the stands: they had panels, and the panels were set in the frames,
²⁹ and on the panels that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work.
³⁰ Moreover, each stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze, and at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each.
³¹ Its opening was within a crown that projected upward one cubit. Its opening was round, as a pedestal is made, a cubit and a half deep. At its opening there were carvings, and its panels were square, not round.
³² And the four wheels were underneath the panels. The axles of the wheels were of one piece with the stands, and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.
³³ The wheels were made like a chariot wheel; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.
³⁴ There were four supports at the four corners of each stand. The supports were of one piece with the stands.
³⁵ And on the top of the stand there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the stand its stays and its panels were of one piece with it.
³⁶ And on the surfaces of its stays and on its panels, he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around.
³⁷ After this manner he made the ten stands. All of them were cast alike, of the same measure and the same form.
³⁸ And he made ten basins of bronze. Each basin held forty baths, each basin measured four cubits, and there was a basin for each of the ten stands.
³⁹ And he set the stands, five on the south side of the house, and five on the north side of the house. And he set the sea at the southeast corner of the house.
⁴⁰ Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the LORD:
⁴¹ the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars;
⁴² and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars;
⁴³ the ten stands, and the ten basins on the stands;
⁴⁴ and the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath the sea.
⁴⁵ Now the pots, the shovels, and the basins, all these vessels in the house of the LORD, which Hiram made for King Solomon, were of burnished bronze.
⁴⁶ In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.
⁴⁷ And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them; the weight of the bronze was not ascertained.
⁴⁸ So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the LORD: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of the Presence,
⁴⁹ the lampstands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north, before the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;
⁵⁰ the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and fire pans, of pure gold; and the sockets of gold, for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple.
⁵¹ Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the LORD was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and stored them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.

¹ Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.
² And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
³ And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
⁴ And they brought up the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.
⁵ And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.
⁶ Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim.
⁷ For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles.
⁸ And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day.
⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.
¹⁰ And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD,
¹¹ so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.
¹² Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
¹³ I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
¹⁴ Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood.
¹⁵ And he said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying,
¹⁶ ‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there. But I chose David to be over my people Israel.’
¹⁷ Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
¹⁸ But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.
¹⁹ Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’
²⁰ Now the LORD has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
²¹ And there I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.” (ESV)

⁴² As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.
⁴³ And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
⁴⁴ The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.
⁴⁶ And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.
⁴⁷ For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
⁴⁸ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
⁴⁹ And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.
⁵⁰ But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.
⁵¹ But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.
⁵² And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

¹ Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.
² But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
³ So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
⁴ But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.
⁵ When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them,
⁶ they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country,
⁷ and there they continued to preach the gospel. (ESV)

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.
¹ In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel.
² His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.
³ There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah
⁴ Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey.
⁵ The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands.
⁶ At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.
⁷ But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?
⁸ From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still,
⁹ when God arose to establish judgment, to save all the humble of the earth. Selah
¹⁰ Surely the wrath of man shall praise you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt.
¹¹ Make your vows to the LORD your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared,
¹² who cuts off the spirit of princes, who is to be feared by the kings of the earth. (ESV)