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: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.
¹ In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel.
² His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.
³ There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah
⁴ Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey.
⁵ The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands.
⁶ At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.
⁷ But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?
⁸ From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still,
⁹ when God arose to establish judgment, to save all the humble of the earth. Selah
¹⁰ Surely the wrath of man shall praise you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt.
¹¹ Make your vows to the LORD your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared,
¹² who cuts off the spirit of princes, who is to be feared by the kings of the earth. (ESV)

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

A Song of Ascents.
¹ Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
² As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.
³ For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to do wrong.
⁴ Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts!
⁵ But those who turn aside to their crooked ways the LORD will lead away with evildoers! Peace be upon Israel! (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 Now the famine was severe in the land.
² And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.”
³ But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’
⁴ If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food.
⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’”
⁶ Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?”
⁷ They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”
⁸ And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones.
⁹ I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.
¹⁰ If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”
¹¹ Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds.
¹² Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight.
¹³ Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man.
¹⁴ May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”
¹⁵ So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.”
¹⁷ The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph’s house.
¹⁸ And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house, and they said, “It is because of the money, which was replaced in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys.”
¹⁹ So they went up to the steward of Joseph’s house and spoke with him at the door of the house,
²⁰ and said, “Oh, my lord, we came down the first time to buy food.
²¹ And when we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us,
²² and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.”
²³ He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
²⁴ And when the man had brought the men into Joseph’s house and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder,
²⁵ they prepared the present for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.
²⁶ When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed down to him to the ground.
²⁷ And he inquired about their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”
²⁸ They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. (ESV)

¹³ And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk.
¹⁴ And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?”
¹⁵ But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”
¹⁶ And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.”
¹⁷ Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.
¹⁸ And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying,
¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
²⁰ There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring.
²¹ And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise.
²² And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died.
²³ In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?
²⁵ For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
²⁶ And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
²⁷ He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.” (ESV)

¹¹ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
¹² “Speak to the people of Israel, If any man’s wife goes astray and breaks faith with him,
¹³ if a man lies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, since she was not taken in the act,
¹⁴ and if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself,
¹⁵ then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
¹⁶ “And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the LORD.
¹⁷ And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.
¹⁸ And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD and unbind the hair of the woman’s head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse.
¹⁹ Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse.
²⁰ But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you,
²¹ then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) ‘the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh fall away and your body swell.
²² May this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, Amen.’
²³ “Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness.
²⁴ And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain.
²⁵ And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand and shall wave the grain offering before the LORD and bring it to the altar.
²⁶ And the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.
²⁷ And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people.
²⁸ But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.
²⁹ “This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, though under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself,
³⁰ or when the spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife. Then he shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law.
³¹ The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”

¹ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
² “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,
³ he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried.
⁴ All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
⁵ “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.
⁶ “All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body.
⁷ Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head.
⁸ All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.
⁹ “And if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it.
¹⁰ On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting,
¹¹ and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall consecrate his head that same day
¹² and separate himself to the LORD for the days of his separation and bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering. But the previous period shall be void, because his separation was defiled.
¹³ “And this is the law for the Nazirite, when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting,
¹⁴ and he shall bring his gift to the LORD, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering,
¹⁵ and a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings.
¹⁶ And the priest shall bring them before the LORD and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering,
¹⁷ and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering.
¹⁸ And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.
¹⁹ And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened loaf out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved the hair of his consecration,
²⁰ and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. They are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine.
²¹ “This is the law of the Nazirite. But if he vows an offering to the LORD above his Nazirite vow, as he can afford, in exact accordance with the vow that he takes, then he shall do in addition to the law of the Nazirite.”
²² The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
²³ “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
²⁴ The LORD bless you and keep you;
²⁵ the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
²⁶ the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
²⁷ “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” (ESV)

¹ In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
² This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
³ And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
⁸ And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
⁹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
¹⁵ When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
¹⁶ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
¹⁷ And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
¹⁸ And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. (ESV)

⁶ For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,
⁷ and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense,
⁸ passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house
⁹ in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.
¹⁰ And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
¹¹ She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home;
¹² now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.
¹³ She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him,
¹⁴ “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;
¹⁵ so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
¹⁶ I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen;
¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.
¹⁹ For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;
²⁰ he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.” (ESV)

¹ Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled.
² Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things.
³ If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,
⁴ he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,
⁵ and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain,
⁷ for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
⁸ But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
¹¹ But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.
¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
¹³ I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession,
¹⁴ to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
¹⁵ which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
¹⁶ who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
¹⁷ As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
¹⁸ They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
¹⁹ thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
²⁰ O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”
²¹ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.

¹ Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,
² in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began
³ and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;
⁴ To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
⁵ This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—
⁶ if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.
⁷ For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,
⁸ but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.
⁹ He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
¹⁰ For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.
¹¹ They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.
¹² One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
¹³ This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,
¹⁴ not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.
¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
¹⁶ They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
¹ But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.
² Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.
³ Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,
⁴ and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,
⁵ to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
⁶ Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.
⁷ Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, (ESV)