Night Watch Devotion

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.
¹ It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
² to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,
³ to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
⁴ For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
⁵ How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!
⁶ The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this:
⁷ that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever;
⁸ but you, O LORD, are on high forever.
⁹ For behold, your enemies, O LORD, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered.
¹⁰ But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil.
¹¹ My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
¹² The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
¹³ They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,
¹⁵ to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (ESV)

¹ Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth!
² Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
³ Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
⁴ For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
⁵ For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
⁶ Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
⁷ Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
⁸ Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
⁹ Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
¹⁰ Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”
¹¹ Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
¹² let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
¹³ before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness. (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 For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water;
² the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder,
³ the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms.
⁴ And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them.
⁵ And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable.
⁶ For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: “You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule”;
⁷ in that day he will speak out, saying: “I will not be a healer; in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; you shall not make me leader of the people.”
⁸ For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.
⁹ For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.
¹⁰ Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
¹¹ Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.
¹² My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.
¹³ The LORD has taken his place to contend; he stands to judge peoples.
¹⁴ The LORD will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: “It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
¹⁵ What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of hosts.
¹⁶ The LORD said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet,
¹⁷ therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will lay bare their secret parts.
¹⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents;
¹⁹ the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves;
²⁰ the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets;
²¹ the signet rings and nose rings;
²² the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags;
²³ the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.
²⁴ Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.
²⁵ Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle.
²⁶ And her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground.

¹ And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”
² In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel.
³ And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem,
⁴ when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.
⁵ Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy.
⁶ There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

¹ Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
² He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
³ And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
⁴ What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
⁵ And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
⁶ I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
⁷ For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry! (ESV)

³ We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,
⁴ but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,
⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;
⁶ by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love;
⁷ by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;
⁸ through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;
⁹ as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed;
¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
¹¹ We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open.
¹² You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections.
¹³ In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.
¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
¹⁵ What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
¹⁶ What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
¹⁷ Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
¹⁸ and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

¹ Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (ESV)

¹² When they were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it,
¹³ wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people,
¹⁴ he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account,
¹⁵ saying, “Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!”
¹⁶ When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread,
¹⁷ he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
¹⁸ His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron;
¹⁹ until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.
²⁰ The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free;
²¹ he made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions,
²² to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom. (ESV)