Night Watch Devotion

¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
³ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
⁹ Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge—
¹⁰ no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
¹² On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
¹⁴ “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
¹⁵ When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (ESV)

A Song of Ascents. Of David.
¹ If it had not been the LORD who was on our side— let Israel now say—
² if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us,
³ then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;
⁴ then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us;
⁵ then over us would have gone the raging waters.
⁶ Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth!
⁷ We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!
⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. (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)

¹⁶ “So as soon as all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people,
¹⁷ the LORD said to me,
¹⁸ ‘Today you are to cross the border of Moab at Ar.
¹⁹ And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.’
²⁰ (It is also counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there—but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim—
²¹ a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but the LORD destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place,
²² as he did for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them and they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day.
²³ As for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.)
²⁴ ‘Rise up, set out on your journey and go over the Valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession, and contend with him in battle.
²⁵ This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’
²⁶ “So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon the king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,
²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land. I will go only by the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left.
²⁸ You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot,
²⁹ as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I go over the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving to us.’
³⁰ But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as he is this day.
³¹ And the LORD said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land.’
³² Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz.
³³ And the LORD our God gave him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and all his people.
³⁴ And we captured all his cities at that time and devoted to destruction every city, men, women, and children. We left no survivors.
³⁵ Only the livestock we took as spoil for ourselves, with the plunder of the cities that we captured.
³⁶ From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. The LORD our God gave all into our hands.
³⁷ Only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not draw near, that is, to all the banks of the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, whatever the LORD our God had forbidden us. (ESV)

¹³ Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
¹⁴ And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt
¹⁵ and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
¹⁸ “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
¹⁹ But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
²⁰ saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
²¹ And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.
²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.
²³ And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. (ESV)

³¹ And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, ‘We are free, we will come no more to you’?
³² Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
³³ “How well you direct your course to seek love! So that even to wicked women you have taught your ways.
³⁴ Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the guiltless poor; you did not find them breaking in. Yet in spite of all these things
³⁵ you say, ‘I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me.’ Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
³⁶ How much you go about, changing your way! You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria.
³⁷ From it too you will come away with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper by them.

¹ “If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the LORD.
² Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom.
³ Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed.
⁴ Have you not just now called to me, ‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
⁵ will he be angry forever, will he be indignant to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could.”
⁶ The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?
⁷ And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
⁸ She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.
⁹ Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree.
¹⁰ Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD.”
¹¹ And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
¹² Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever.
¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD.
¹⁴ Return, O faithless children, declares the LORD; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
¹⁵ “‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
¹⁶ And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again.
¹⁷ At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.
¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
¹⁹ “‘I said, How I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me.
²⁰ Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the LORD.’”
²¹ A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the LORD their God.
²² “Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.” “Behold, we come to you, for you are the LORD our God.
²³ Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
²⁴ “But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”

¹ “If you return, O Israel, declares the LORD, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver,
² and if you swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.”
³ For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
⁵ Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, “Blow the trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!’
⁶ Raise a standard toward Zion, flee for safety, stay not, for I bring disaster from the north, and great destruction.
⁷ A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant.
⁸ For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned back from us.”
⁹ “In that day, declares the LORD, courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.” (ESV)

¹² Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
¹³ for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
¹⁴ Do all things without grumbling or disputing,
¹⁵ that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
¹⁶ holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
¹⁷ Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
¹⁸ Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
¹⁹ I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you.
²⁰ For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
²¹ For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
²² But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.
²³ I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me,
²⁴ and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.
²⁵ I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need,
²⁶ for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.
²⁷ Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
²⁸ I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.
²⁹ So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men,
³⁰ for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. (ESV)

¹² The LORD has remembered us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron;
¹³ he will bless those who fear the LORD, both the small and the great.
¹⁴ May the LORD give you increase, you and your children!
¹⁵ May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth!
¹⁶ The heavens are the LORD’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.
¹⁷ The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence.
¹⁸ But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD! (ESV)