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)

¹ By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
² On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
³ For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
⁴ How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?
⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!
⁶ Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!
⁷ Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!”
⁸ O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!
⁹ Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock! (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)

¹³ Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see,
¹⁴ but at the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.
¹⁵ “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer.
¹⁶ Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.
¹⁷ You may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present,
¹⁸ but you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place that the LORD your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you undertake.
¹⁹ Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.
²⁰ “When the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you crave meat, you may eat meat whenever you desire.
²¹ If the place that the LORD your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire.
²² Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it.
²³ Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.
²⁴ You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.
²⁵ You shall not eat it, that all may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD.
²⁶ But the holy things that are due from you, and your vow offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to the place that the LORD will choose,
²⁷ and offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, but the flesh you may eat.
²⁸ Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.
²⁹ “When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,
³⁰ take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’
³¹ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
³² “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it. (ESV)

¹⁸ While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”
¹⁹ And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples.
²⁰ And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment,
²¹ for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.”
²² Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.
²³ And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion,
²⁴ he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him.
²⁵ But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.
²⁶ And the report of this went through all that district.
²⁷ And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.”
²⁸ When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”
²⁹ Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be done to you.”
³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.”
³¹ But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.
³² As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him.
³³ And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.”
³⁴ But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”
³⁵ And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
³⁸ therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (ESV)

²⁴ To Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say:
²⁵ “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
²⁶ ‘The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have charge in the house of the LORD over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and neck irons.
²⁷ Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who is prophesying to you?
²⁸ For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “Your exile will be long; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce.”’”
²⁹ Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
³⁰ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
³¹ “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah had prophesied to you when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie,
³² therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the LORD, for he has spoken rebellion against the LORD.’”

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
² “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.
³ For behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.”
⁴ These are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah:
⁵ “Thus says the LORD: We have heard a cry of panic, of terror, and no peace.
⁶ Ask now, and see, can a man bear a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor? Why has every face turned pale?
⁷ Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it.
⁸ “And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him.
⁹ But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
¹⁰ “Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the LORD, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.
¹¹ For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
¹² “For thus says the LORD: Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous.
¹³ There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you.
¹⁴ All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant.
¹⁵ Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you.
¹⁶ Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall be plundered, and all who prey on you I will make a prey.
¹⁷ For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the LORD, because they have called you an outcast: ‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’
¹⁸ “Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt on its mound, and the palace shall stand where it used to be.
¹⁹ Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving, and the voices of those who celebrate. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will make them honored, and they shall not be small.
²⁰ Their children shall be as they were of old, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all who oppress them.
²¹ Their prince shall be one of themselves; their ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me? declares the LORD.
²² And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”
²³ Behold the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
²⁴ The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind. In the latter days you will understand this.

¹ “At that time, declares the LORD, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”
² Thus says the LORD: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest,
³ the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
⁴ Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
⁵ Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit.
⁶ For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim: ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.’”
⁷ For thus says the LORD: “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’
⁸ Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.
⁹ With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
¹⁰ “Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
¹¹ For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
¹² They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more.
¹³ Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
¹⁴ I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the LORD.” (ESV)

¹ Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,
² not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
³ Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
⁴ who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
⁶ And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.
⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.
⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
⁹ The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,
¹⁰ and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
¹¹ Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,
¹² in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
¹³ But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
¹⁴ To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
¹⁵ So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,
¹⁷ comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. (ESV)

He
³³ Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.
³⁴ Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
³⁵ Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
³⁶ Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
³⁷ Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
³⁸ Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.
³⁹ Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.
⁴⁰ Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life! (ESV)