Night Watch Devotion

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
¹ Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
² O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
³ But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.
⁴ Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
⁵ Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD.
⁶ There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!”
⁷ You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
⁸ In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (ESV)

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David, when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.
¹ Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me;
² deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.
³ For behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men stir up strife against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O LORD,
⁴ for no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Awake, come to meet me, and see!
⁵ You, LORD God of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah
⁶ Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.
⁷ There they are, bellowing with their mouths with swords in their lips— for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”
⁸ But you, O LORD, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision.
⁹ O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress.
¹⁰ My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.
¹¹ Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield!
¹² For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter,
¹³ consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah
¹⁴ Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.
¹⁵ They wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill.
¹⁶ But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.
¹⁷ O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love. (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)

¹ Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel,
² Saul chose three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent.
³ Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.”
⁴ And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.
⁵ And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven.
⁶ When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns,
⁷ and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
⁸ He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
⁹ So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.
¹⁰ As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him.
¹¹ Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash,
¹² I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the LORD.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.”
¹³ And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he commanded you. For then the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
¹⁴ But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”
¹⁵ And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal. The rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the army; they went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men.
¹⁶ And Saul and Jonathan his son and the people who were present with them stayed in Geba of Benjamin, but the Philistines encamped in Michmash.
¹⁷ And raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned toward Ophrah, to the land of Shual;
¹⁸ another company turned toward Beth-horon; and another company turned toward the border that looks down on the Valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness. (ESV)

¹² When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
¹³ There were more than forty who made this conspiracy.
¹⁴ They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul.
¹⁵ Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”
¹⁶ Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.
¹⁷ Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.”
¹⁸ So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.”
¹⁹ The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?”
²⁰ And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him.
²¹ But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.”
²² So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”
²³ Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.
²⁴ Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”
²⁵ And he wrote a letter to this effect:
²⁶ “Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings.
²⁷ This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen.
²⁸ And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council.
²⁹ I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.
³⁰ And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”
³¹ So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.
³² And on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him.
³³ When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him.
³⁴ On reading the letter, he asked what province he was from. And when he learned that he was from Cilicia,
³⁵ he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod’s praetorium. (ESV)

⁹ Jabez was more honorable than his brothers; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”
¹⁰ Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.
¹¹ Chelub, the brother of Shuhah, fathered Mehir, who fathered Eshton.
¹² Eshton fathered Beth-rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah, the father of Ir-nahash. These are the men of Recah.
¹³ The sons of Kenaz: Othniel and Seraiah; and the sons of Othniel: Hathath and Meonothai.
¹⁴ Meonothai fathered Ophrah; and Seraiah fathered Joab, the father of Ge-harashim, so-called because they were craftsmen.
¹⁵ The sons of Caleb the son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam; and the son of Elah: Kenaz.
¹⁶ The sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.
¹⁷ The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. These are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered married; and she conceived and bore Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa.
¹⁸ And his Judahite wife bore Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.
¹⁹ The sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Keilah the Garmite and Eshtemoa the Maacathite.
²⁰ The sons of Shimon: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon. The sons of Ishi: Zoheth and Ben-zoheth.
²¹ The sons of Shelah the son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the clans of the house of linen workers at Beth-ashbea;
²² and Jokim, and the men of Cozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and returned to Lehem (now the records are ancient).
²³ These were the potters who were inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah. They lived there in the king’s service.
²⁴ The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul;
²⁵ Shallum was his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son.
²⁶ The sons of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son.
²⁷ Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers did not have many children, nor did all their clan multiply like the men of Judah.
²⁸ They lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual,
²⁹ Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,
³⁰ Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag,
³¹ Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susim, Beth-biri, and Shaaraim. These were their cities until David reigned.
³² And their villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan, five cities,
³³ along with all their villages that were around these cities as far as Baal. These were their settlements, and they kept a genealogical record.
³⁴ Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah the son of Amaziah,
³⁵ Joel, Jehu the son of Joshibiah, son of Seraiah, son of Asiel,
³⁶ Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah,
³⁷ Ziza the son of Shiphi, son of Allon, son of Jedaiah, son of Shimri, son of Shemaiah—
³⁸ these mentioned by name were princes in their clans, and their fathers’ houses increased greatly.
³⁹ They journeyed to the entrance of Gedor, to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks,
⁴⁰ where they found rich, good pasture, and the land was very broad, quiet, and peaceful, for the former inhabitants there belonged to Ham.
⁴¹ These, registered by name, came in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and destroyed their tents and the Meunites who were found there, and marked them for destruction to this day, and settled in their place, because there was pasture there for their flocks.
⁴² And some of them, five hundred men of the Simeonites, went to Mount Seir, having as their leaders Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi.
⁴³ And they defeated the remnant of the Amalekites who had escaped, and they have lived there to this day.

¹ The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, so that he could not be enrolled as the oldest son;
² though Judah became strong among his brothers and a chief came from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph),
³ the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
⁴ The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son,
⁵ Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son,
⁶ Beerah his son, whom Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria carried away into exile; he was a chief of the Reubenites.
⁷ And his kinsmen by their clans, when the genealogy of their generations was recorded: the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah,
⁸ and Bela the son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel, who lived in Aroer, as far as Nebo and Baal-meon.
⁹ He also lived to the east as far as the entrance of the desert this side of the Euphrates, because their livestock had multiplied in the land of Gilead.
¹⁰ And in the days of Saul they waged war against the Hagrites, who fell into their hand. And they lived in their tents throughout all the region east of Gilead.
¹¹ The sons of Gad lived over against them in the land of Bashan as far as Salecah:
¹² Joel the chief, Shapham the second, Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan.
¹³ And their kinsmen according to their fathers’ houses: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia and Eber, seven.
¹⁴ These were the sons of Abihail the son of Huri, son of Jaroah, son of Gilead, son of Michael, son of Jeshishai, son of Jahdo, son of Buz.
¹⁵ Ahi the son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was chief in their fathers’ houses,
¹⁶ and they lived in Gilead, in Bashan and in its towns, and in all the pasturelands of Sharon to their limits.
¹⁷ All of these were recorded in genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.
¹⁸ The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had valiant men who carried shield and sword, and drew the bow, expert in war, 44,760, able to go to war.
¹⁹ They waged war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab.
²⁰ And when they prevailed over them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him.
²¹ They carried off their livestock: 50,000 of their camels, 250,000 sheep, 2,000 donkeys, and 100,000 men alive.
²² For many fell, because the war was of God. And they lived in their place until the exile.
²³ The members of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land. They were very numerous from Bashan to Baal-hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon.
²⁴ These were the heads of their fathers’ houses: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty warriors, famous men, heads of their fathers’ houses.
²⁵ But they broke faith with the God of their fathers, and whored after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.
²⁶ So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he took them into exile, namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, to this day. (ESV)

¹¹ So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
¹² Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
¹³ Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
¹⁴ in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.
¹⁵ For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
¹⁶ If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
¹⁷ But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,
¹⁸ do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
¹⁹ Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
²⁰ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.
²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
²² Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.
²³ And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
²⁴ For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
²⁵ Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
²⁶ And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
²⁷ “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
²⁸ As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.
²⁹ For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
³⁰ For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,
³¹ so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.
³² For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. (ESV)

¹⁹ Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: “I have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.
²⁰ I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him,
²¹ so that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him.
²² The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him.
²³ I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.
²⁴ My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
²⁵ I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers.
²⁶ He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
²⁷ And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
²⁸ My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him.
²⁹ I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens. (ESV)