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)

To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.
¹ Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
² sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise!
³ Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
⁴ All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.” Selah
⁵ Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
⁶ He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him,
⁷ who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations— let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
⁸ Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard,
⁹ who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.
¹⁰ For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.
¹¹ You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
¹² you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.
¹³ I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to you,
¹⁴ that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
¹⁵ I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
¹⁶ Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
¹⁷ I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue.
¹⁸ If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
¹⁹ But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
²⁰ Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me! (ESV)

Of David.
¹ Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
² Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
³ who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
⁵ who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
⁶ The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷ He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
⁸ The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷ But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,
¹⁸ to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.
¹⁹ The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.
²⁰ Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!
²¹ Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!
²² Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!

¹ Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
² covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent.
³ He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind;
⁴ he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.
⁵ He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved.
⁶ You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
⁸ The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.
⁹ You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
¹⁰ You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills;
¹¹ they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches.
¹³ From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
¹⁴ You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth
¹⁵ and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
¹⁶ The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
¹⁷ In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees.
¹⁸ The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
¹⁹ He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
²⁰ You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
²¹ The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
²² When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens.
²³ Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening.
²⁴ O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great.
²⁶ There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.
²⁷ These all look to you, to give them their food in due season.
²⁸ When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
³⁰ When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.
³¹ May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works,
³² who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke!
³³ I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
³⁵ Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD! (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 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.”
² He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.
³ Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me,
⁴ and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”
⁵ Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it,
⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau,
⁷ ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the LORD before I die.’
⁸ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you.
⁹ Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves.
¹⁰ And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”
¹¹ But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
¹² Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.”
¹³ His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.”
¹⁴ So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved.
¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
¹⁶ And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
¹⁷ And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
¹⁸ So he went in to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”
²⁰ But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the LORD your God granted me success.”
²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
²² So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
²³ And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him.
²⁴ He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.”
²⁵ Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.”
²⁷ So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed!
²⁸ May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine.
²⁹ Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” (ESV)

²² And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.
²³ And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”
²⁴ And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”
²⁵ Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
²⁶ And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
²⁷ And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
²⁸ And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”
²⁹ And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”
³⁰ And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
³¹ And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
³² And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
³³ But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
³⁴ And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
³⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
³⁷ For what can a man give in return for his soul?
³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (ESV)

¹ The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
² “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean.
³ And this is the law of his uncleanness for a discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is blocked up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness.
⁴ Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean.
⁵ And anyone who touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.
⁶ And whoever sits on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.
⁷ And whoever touches the body of the one with the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.
⁸ And if the one with the discharge spits on someone who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.
⁹ And any saddle on which the one with the discharge rides shall be unclean.
¹⁰ And whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries such things shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.
¹¹ Anyone whom the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.
¹² And an earthenware vessel that the one with the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
¹³ “And when the one with a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes. And he shall bathe his body in fresh water and shall be clean.
¹⁴ And on the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and come before the LORD to the entrance of the tent of meeting and give them to the priest.
¹⁵ And the priest shall use them, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD for his discharge.
¹⁶ “If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until the evening.
¹⁷ And every garment and every skin on which the semen comes shall be washed with water and be unclean until the evening.
¹⁸ If a man lies with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them shall bathe themselves in water and be unclean until the evening.
¹⁹ “When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.
²⁰ And everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. Everything also on which she sits shall be unclean.
²¹ And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.
²² And whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.
²³ Whether it is the bed or anything on which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening.
²⁴ And if any man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.
²⁵ “If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean.
²⁶ Every bed on which she lies, all the days of her discharge, shall be to her as the bed of her impurity. And everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity.
²⁷ And whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.
²⁸ But if she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean.
²⁹ And on the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting.
³⁰ And the priest shall use one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her before the LORD for her unclean discharge.
³¹ “Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.”
³² This is the law for him who has a discharge and for him who has an emission of semen, becoming unclean thereby;
³³ also for her who is unwell with her menstrual impurity, that is, for anyone, male or female, who has a discharge, and for the man who lies with a woman who is unclean.

¹ The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died,
² and the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.
³ But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
⁴ He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on.
⁵ And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
⁶ “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house.
⁷ Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
⁸ And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel.
⁹ And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering,
¹⁰ but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.
¹¹ “Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself.
¹² And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil
¹³ and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.
¹⁴ And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
¹⁵ “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.
¹⁶ Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.
¹⁷ No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel.
¹⁸ Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around.
¹⁹ And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.
²⁰ “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.
²¹ And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.
²² The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.
²³ “Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there.
²⁴ And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people.
²⁵ And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.
²⁶ And he who lets the goat go to Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.
²⁷ And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire.
²⁸ And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.
²⁹ “And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.
³⁰ For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins.
³¹ It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever.
³² And the priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments.
³³ He shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.
³⁴ And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron did as the LORD commanded Moses. (ESV)

³² “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
³³ Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.
³⁴ It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake.
³⁵ Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—
³⁶ lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.
³⁷ And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

¹ It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him,
² for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”
³ And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.
⁴ There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that?
⁵ For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her.
⁶ But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
⁷ For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me.
⁸ She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.
⁹ And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
¹⁰ Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.
¹¹ And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.
¹² And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
¹³ And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him,
¹⁴ and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’
¹⁵ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.”
¹⁶ And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. (ESV)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
¹ In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me!
² Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!
³ For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me;
⁴ you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.
⁵ Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
⁶ I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.
⁷ I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul,
⁸ and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place. (ESV)

¹ But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
² And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.
³ So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.
⁴ When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.
⁵ But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”
⁶ The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.
⁷ And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
⁸ And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us,
⁹ and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.
¹⁰ Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
¹¹ But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
¹² And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
¹³ After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me.
¹⁴ Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.
¹⁵ And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,
¹⁶ “‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it,
¹⁷ that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things
¹⁸ known from of old.’
¹⁹ Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,
²⁰ but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
²¹ For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”
²² Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,
²³ with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.
²⁴ Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,
²⁵ it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
²⁶ men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
²⁷ We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.
²⁸ For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:
²⁹ that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
³⁰ So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter.
³¹ And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.
³² And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.
³³ And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.
³⁵ But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
³⁶ And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”
³⁷ Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark.
³⁸ But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.
³⁹ And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus,
⁴⁰ but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
⁴¹ And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

¹ Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.
² He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.
³ Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
⁴ As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.
⁵ So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.
⁶ And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
⁷ And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.
⁸ So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.
⁹ And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
¹⁰ And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
¹¹ So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis,
¹² and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days.
¹³ And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.
¹⁴ One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
¹⁵ And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
¹⁶ As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.
¹⁷ She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”
¹⁸ And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
¹⁹ But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
²⁰ And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city.
²¹ They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”
²² The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.
²³ And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.
²⁴ Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,
²⁶ and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.
²⁷ When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
²⁸ But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
²⁹ And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.
³⁰ Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
³¹ And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
³² And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
³³ And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.
³⁴ Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
³⁵ But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”
³⁶ And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.”
³⁷ But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.”
³⁸ The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.
³⁹ So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.
⁴⁰ So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.

¹ Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
² And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
³ explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
⁴ And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.
⁵ But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.
⁶ And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
⁷ and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
⁸ And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.
⁹ And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
¹⁰ The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.
¹¹ Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
¹² Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
¹³ But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.
¹⁴ Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there.
¹⁵ Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.
¹⁶ Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
¹⁷ So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.
¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
¹⁹ And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
²⁰ For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.”
²¹ Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
²² So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
²³ For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,
²⁵ nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
²⁶ And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
²⁷ that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
²⁸ for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
²⁹ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
³⁰ The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
³¹ because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
³² Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
³³ So Paul went out from their midst.
³⁴ But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

¹ After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
² And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them,
³ and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
⁴ And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
⁵ When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
⁶ And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
⁷ And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue.
⁸ Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
⁹ And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent,
¹⁰ for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”
¹¹ And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
¹² But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal,
¹³ saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.”
¹⁴ But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint.
¹⁵ But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.”
¹⁶ And he drove them from the tribunal.
¹⁷ And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.
¹⁸ After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.
¹⁹ And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
²⁰ When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined.
²¹ But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.
²² When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch.
²³ After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
²⁴ Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.
²⁵ He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.
²⁶ He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
²⁷ And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed,
²⁸ for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. (ESV)