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)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
¹ Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
² Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers,
³ who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows,
⁴ shooting from ambush at the blameless, shooting at him suddenly and without fear.
⁵ They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, “Who can see them?”
⁶ They search out injustice, saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.” For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.
⁷ But God shoots his arrow at them; they are wounded suddenly.
⁸ They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them; all who see them will wag their heads.
⁹ Then all mankind fears; they tell what God has brought about and ponder what he has done.
¹⁰ Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult! (ESV)

²³ Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. (ESV)

¹ “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.
² Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.
³ ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
⁴ Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?
⁶ “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸ Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
¹⁰ if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
¹¹ And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
¹² And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.
¹³ “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
¹⁴ then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
¹ Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
² but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
³ For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.

¹⁴ then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (ESV)

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.”
³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (ESV)

²² The overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, son of Hashabiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, the singers, over the work of the house of God.
²³ For there was a command from the king concerning them, and a fixed provision for the singers, as every day required.
²⁴ And Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king’s side in all matters concerning the people.
²⁵ And as for the villages, with their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath-arba and its villages, and in Dibon and its villages, and in Jekabzeel and its villages,
²⁶ and in Jeshua and in Moladah and Beth-pelet,
²⁷ in Hazar-shual, in Beersheba and its villages,
²⁸ in Ziklag, in Meconah and its villages,
²⁹ in En-rimmon, in Zorah, in Jarmuth,
³⁰ Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, and Azekah and its villages. So they encamped from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom.
³¹ The people of Benjamin also lived from Geba onward, at Michmash, Aija, Bethel and its villages,
³² Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,
³³ Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,
³⁴ Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,
³⁵ Lod, and Ono, the valley of craftsmen.
³⁶ And certain divisions of the Levites in Judah were assigned to Benjamin.

¹ These are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
² Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,
³ Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,
⁴ Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,
⁵ Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,
⁶ Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,
⁷ Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua.
⁸ And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who with his brothers was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving.
⁹ And Bakbukiah and Unni and their brothers stood opposite them in the service.
¹⁰ And Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim the father of Eliashib, Eliashib the father of Joiada,
¹¹ Joiada the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan the father of Jaddua.
¹² And in the days of Joiakim were priests, heads of fathers’ houses: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;
¹³ of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;
¹⁴ of Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;
¹⁵ of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai;
¹⁶ of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;
¹⁷ of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai;
¹⁸ of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;
¹⁹ of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;
²⁰ of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;
²¹ of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.
²² In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the Levites were recorded as heads of fathers’ houses; so too were the priests in the reign of Darius the Persian.
²³ As for the sons of Levi, their heads of fathers’ houses were written in the Book of the Chronicles until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib.
²⁴ And the chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers who stood opposite them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, watch by watch.
²⁵ Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers standing guard at the storehouses of the gates.
²⁶ These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra, the priest and scribe.
²⁷ And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres.
²⁸ And the sons of the singers gathered together from the district surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites;
²⁹ also from Beth-gilgal and from the region of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem.
³⁰ And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall.
³¹ Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south on the wall to the Dung Gate.
³² And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah,
³³ and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam,
³⁴ Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,
³⁵ and certain of the priests’ sons with trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph;
³⁶ and his relatives, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them.
³⁷ At the Fountain Gate they went up straight before them by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, to the Water Gate on the east.
³⁸ The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above the Tower of the Ovens, to the Broad Wall,
³⁹ and above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Gate of Yeshanah, and by the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate; and they came to a halt at the Gate of the Guard.
⁴⁰ So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God, and I and half of the officials with me;
⁴¹ and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets;
⁴² and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang with Jezrahiah as their leader.
⁴³ And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.
⁴⁴ On that day men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the Law for the priests and for the Levites according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered.
⁴⁵ And they performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the command of David and his son Solomon.
⁴⁶ For long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.
⁴⁷ And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers; and they set apart that which was for the Levites; and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron. (ESV)

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
⁵ And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
⁶ And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
⁷ The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
⁸ But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
⁹ Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
¹¹ having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
¹² It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed—
¹³ on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
¹⁴ And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
¹⁵ And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls.
¹⁶ The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal.
¹⁷ He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement.
¹⁸ The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
¹⁹ The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,
²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
²¹ And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
²² And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
²³ And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
²⁴ By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,
²⁵ and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.
²⁶ They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
²⁷ But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (ESV)

²¹ She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
²² She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.
²⁵ Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.
²⁶ She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
²⁷ She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
³¹ Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. (ESV)