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)

A Song of Ascents.
¹ “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”— let Israel now say—
² “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.
³ The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.”
⁴ The LORD is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.
⁵ May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward!
⁶ Let them be like the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up,
⁷ with which the reaper does not fill his hand nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
⁸ nor do those who pass by say, “The blessing of the LORD be upon you! We bless you in the name of the LORD!” (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 “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
²³ And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders.
²⁴ And you said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live.
²⁵ Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, we shall die.
²⁶ For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived?
²⁷ Go near and hear all that the LORD our God will say, and speak to us all that the LORD our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’
²⁸ “And the LORD heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken.
²⁹ Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!
³⁰ Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.”
³¹ But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’
³² You shall be careful therefore to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
³³ You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.
¹ “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it,
² that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.
³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
⁵ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (ESV)

²¹ “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’
²² But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
²³ So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
²⁵ Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
²⁶ Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
²⁸ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
²⁹ If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
³¹ “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’
³² But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
³³ “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’
³⁴ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
³⁶ And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
³⁷ Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
³⁹ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
⁴⁰ And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
⁴¹ And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
⁴² Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
⁴⁴ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
⁴⁵ so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
⁴⁸ You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (ESV)

¹⁸ The LORD made it known to me and I knew; then you showed me their deeds.
¹⁹ But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.”
²⁰ But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.
²¹ Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand”—
²² therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine,
²³ and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.”

¹ Righteous are you, O LORD, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
² You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit; you are near in their mouth and far from their heart.
³ But you, O LORD, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
⁴ How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the evil of those who dwell in it the beasts and the birds are swept away, because they said, “He will not see our latter end.”
⁵ “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?
⁶ For even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; they are in full cry after you; do not believe them, though they speak friendly words to you.”
⁷ “I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my heritage; I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies.
⁸ My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest; she has lifted up her voice against me; therefore I hate her.
⁹ Is my heritage to me like a hyena’s lair? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.
¹⁰ Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my portion; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
¹¹ They have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourns to me. The whole land is made desolate, but no man lays it to heart.
¹² Upon all the bare heights in the desert destroyers have come, for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the land to the other; no flesh has peace.
¹³ They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns; they have tired themselves out but profit nothing. They shall be ashamed of their harvests because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”
¹⁴ Thus says the LORD concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.
¹⁵ And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land.
¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.
¹⁷ But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the LORD.”

¹ Thus says the LORD to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.”
² So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist.
³ And the word of the LORD came to me a second time,
⁴ “Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”
⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
⁶ And after many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.”
⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.
⁸ Then the word of the LORD came to me:
⁹ “Thus says the LORD: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
¹⁰ This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.
¹¹ For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.
¹² “You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.”’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?’
¹³ Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
¹⁴ And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the LORD. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.’”
¹⁵ Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the LORD has spoken.
¹⁶ Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.
¹⁷ But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
¹⁸ Say to the king and the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.”
¹⁹ The cities of the Negeb are shut up, with none to open them; all Judah is taken into exile, wholly taken into exile.
²⁰ “Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?
²¹ What will you say when they set as head over you those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you? Will not pangs take hold of you like those of a woman in labor?
²² And if you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things come upon me?’ it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up and you suffer violence.
²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.
²⁴ I will scatter you like chaff driven by the wind from the desert.
²⁵ This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you, declares the LORD, because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.
²⁶ I myself will lift up your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen.
²⁷ I have seen your abominations, your adulteries and neighings, your lewd whorings, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will it be before you are made clean?” (ESV)

⁶ Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
⁷ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
⁹ For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
¹⁰ and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
¹¹ In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
¹⁶ Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
¹⁸ Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,
¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
²⁰ If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—
²¹ “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”
²² (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?
²³ These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (ESV)

¹ Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
² Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
³ Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
⁴ Let those who fear the LORD say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
⁵ Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free.
⁶ The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
⁷ The LORD is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
⁸ It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.
⁹ It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.
¹⁰ All nations surrounded me; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
¹¹ They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
¹² They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
¹³ I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the LORD helped me.
¹⁴ The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
¹⁵ Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,
¹⁶ the right hand of the LORD exalts, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!” (ESV)