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)

A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
¹ I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
² For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
³ You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant:
⁴ ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah
⁵ Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
⁶ For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,
⁷ a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?
⁸ O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you?
⁹ You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.
¹⁰ You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
¹¹ The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
¹² The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
¹³ You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand.
¹⁴ Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
¹⁵ Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face,
¹⁶ who exult in your name all the day and in your righteousness are exalted.
¹⁷ For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted.
¹⁸ For our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁹ Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: “I have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.
²⁰ I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him,
²¹ so that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him.
²² The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him.
²³ I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.
²⁴ My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
²⁵ I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers.
²⁶ He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
²⁷ And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
²⁸ My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him.
²⁹ I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.
³⁰ If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules,
³¹ if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments,
³² then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes,
³³ but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness.
³⁴ I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
³⁵ Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David.
³⁶ His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me.
³⁷ Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah
³⁸ But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed.
³⁹ You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust.
⁴⁰ You have breached all his walls; you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
⁴¹ All who pass by plunder him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
⁴² You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice.
⁴³ You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and you have not made him stand in battle.
⁴⁴ You have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground.
⁴⁵ You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with shame. Selah
⁴⁶ How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?
⁴⁷ Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
⁴⁸ What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
⁴⁹ Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
⁵⁰ Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,
⁵¹ with which your enemies mock, O LORD, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.
⁵² Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and Amen. (ESV)

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.
¹ Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
² I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
³ I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.
⁴ More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?
⁵ O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
⁶ Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.
⁷ For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.
⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons.
⁹ For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
¹⁰ When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
¹¹ When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
¹² I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.
¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
¹⁴ Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
¹⁵ Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.
¹⁶ Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
¹⁷ Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
¹⁸ Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!
¹⁹ You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
²⁰ Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
²¹ They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
²² Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
²³ Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.
²⁴ Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.
²⁵ May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.
²⁶ For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
²⁷ Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you.
²⁸ Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
²⁹ But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
³⁰ I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
³¹ This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
³² When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
³³ For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.
³⁵ For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it;
³⁶ the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
³ Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
⁴ In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
⁶ But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
⁸ “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
⁹ Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
¹⁰ On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
¹¹ Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.
¹² Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
¹³ they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
¹⁵ my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
¹⁶ For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—
¹⁷ I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me;
¹⁸ they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
¹⁹ But you, O LORD, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog!
²¹ Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
²² I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
²³ You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
²⁴ For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.
²⁵ From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
²⁶ The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever!
²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
²⁸ For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
²⁹ All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive.
³⁰ Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
³¹ they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it. (ESV)

¹ “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
² Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
³ For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,
⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
⁵ As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
⁶ But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’
⁷ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
⁸ And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
⁹ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’
¹⁰ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
¹¹ Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’
¹² But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
¹³ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (ESV)

¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.
² For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them,
³ behold, the hand of the LORD will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks.
⁴ But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.”’”
⁵ And the LORD set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land.”
⁶ And the next day the LORD did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died.
⁷ And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
⁸ And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh.
⁹ It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.”
¹⁰ So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast.
¹¹ And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians.
¹² But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses.
¹³ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.
¹⁴ For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.
¹⁵ For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.
¹⁶ But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.
¹⁷ You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go.
¹⁸ Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.
¹⁹ Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.”’”
²⁰ Then whoever feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses,
²¹ but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the LORD left his slaves and his livestock in the field.
²² Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt.”
²³ Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
²⁴ There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
²⁵ The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field.
²⁶ Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.
²⁷ Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.
²⁸ Plead with the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” (ESV)

¹ Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
² For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
³ how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
⁴ while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
⁵ For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.
⁶ It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?
⁷ You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,
⁸ putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
⁹ But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
¹⁰ For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
¹¹ For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
¹² saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
¹³ And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
¹⁴ Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
¹⁵ and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
¹⁶ For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
¹⁷ Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
¹⁸ For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (ESV)

¹² The LORD said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel.
¹³ When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was,
¹⁴ because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)
¹⁵ Moses spoke to the LORD, saying,
¹⁶ “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation
¹⁷ who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.”
¹⁸ So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.
¹⁹ Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight.
²⁰ You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey.
²¹ And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the LORD. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.”
²² And Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation,
²³ and he laid his hands on him and commissioned him as the LORD directed through Moses.

¹ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
² “Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.’
³ And you shall say to them, This is the food offering that you shall offer to the LORD: two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a regular offering.
⁴ The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight;
⁵ also a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with a quarter of a hin of beaten oil.
⁶ It is a regular burnt offering, which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.
⁷ Its drink offering shall be a quarter of a hin for each lamb. In the Holy Place you shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to the LORD.
⁸ The other lamb you shall offer at twilight. Like the grain offering of the morning, and like its drink offering, you shall offer it as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
⁹ “On the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering:
¹⁰ this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
¹¹ “At the beginnings of your months, you shall offer a burnt offering to the LORD: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish;
¹² also three tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull, and two tenths of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram;
¹³ and a tenth of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering for every lamb; for a burnt offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.
¹⁴ Their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, a third of a hin for a ram, and a quarter of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering of each month throughout the months of the year.
¹⁵ Also one male goat for a sin offering to the LORD; it shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
¹⁶ “On the fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover,
¹⁷ and on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.
¹⁸ On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work,
¹⁹ but offer a food offering, a burnt offering to the LORD: two bulls from the herd, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old; see that they are without blemish;
²⁰ also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil; three tenths of an ephah shall you offer for a bull, and two tenths for a ram;
²¹ a tenth shall you offer for each of the seven lambs;
²² also one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you.
²³ You shall offer these besides the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a regular burnt offering.
²⁴ In the same way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. It shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
²⁵ And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work.
²⁶ “On the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a grain offering of new grain to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work,
²⁷ but offer a burnt offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old;
²⁸ also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for each bull, two tenths for one ram,
²⁹ a tenth for each of the seven lambs;
³⁰ with one male goat, to make atonement for you.
³¹ Besides the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, you shall offer them and their drink offering. See that they are without blemish.

¹ “On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets,
² and you shall offer a burnt offering, for a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish;
³ also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the ram,
⁴ and one tenth for each of the seven lambs;
⁵ with one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you;
⁶ besides the burnt offering of the new moon, and its grain offering, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offering, according to the rule for them, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.
⁷ “On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation and afflict yourselves. You shall do no work,
⁸ but you shall offer a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma: one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old: see that they are without blemish.
⁹ And their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the one ram,
¹⁰ a tenth for each of the seven lambs:
¹¹ also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the sin offering of atonement, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings. (ESV)

¹ Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him,
² and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
³ and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.
⁴ And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable,
⁵ “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it.
⁶ And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.
⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.
⁸ And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
⁹ And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant,
¹⁰ he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’
¹¹ Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
¹² The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
¹³ And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.
¹⁴ And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
¹⁵ As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
¹⁶ “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.
¹⁷ For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
¹⁸ Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” (ESV)

¹² Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long.
¹³ But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth.
¹⁴ I have become like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no rebukes.
¹⁵ But for you, O LORD, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
¹⁶ For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me, who boast against me when my foot slips!”
¹⁷ For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me.
¹⁸ I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.
¹⁹ But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
²⁰ Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good.
²¹ Do not forsake me, O LORD! O my God, be not far from me!
²² Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation! (ESV)

¹ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
² By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
³ For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
⁴ For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
⁶ This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
⁷ For there are three that testify:
⁸ the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
⁹ If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.
¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.
¹¹ And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
¹³ I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
¹⁴ And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.
¹⁷ All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
¹⁸ We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
¹⁹ We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
²¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

¹ The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth,

¹ The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

¹ Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: (ESV)