Extended Evening Devotion

¹ Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!
² Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!
³ Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!
⁴ Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!
⁵ Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
⁶ O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!
⁷ He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.
⁸ He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
⁹ the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac,
¹⁰ which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
¹¹ saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.”
¹² When they were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it,
¹³ wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people,
¹⁴ he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account,
¹⁵ saying, “Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!”
¹⁶ When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread,
¹⁷ he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
¹⁸ His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron;
¹⁹ until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.
²⁰ The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free;
²¹ he made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions,
²² to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom.
²³ Then Israel came to Egypt; Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
²⁴ And the LORD made his people very fruitful and made them stronger than their foes.
²⁵ He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.
²⁶ He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
²⁷ They performed his signs among them and miracles in the land of Ham.
²⁸ He sent darkness, and made the land dark; they did not rebel against his words.
²⁹ He turned their waters into blood and caused their fish to die.
³⁰ Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings.
³¹ He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country.
³² He gave them hail for rain, and fiery lightning bolts through their land.
³³ He struck down their vines and fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country.
³⁴ He spoke, and the locusts came, young locusts without number,
³⁵ which devoured all the vegetation in their land and ate up the fruit of their ground.
³⁶ He struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their strength.
³⁷ Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold, and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.
³⁸ Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had fallen upon it.
³⁹ He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night.
⁴⁰ They asked, and he brought quail, and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.
⁴¹ He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river.
⁴² For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant.
⁴³ So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing.
⁴⁴ And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil,
⁴⁵ that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the LORD! (ESV)

¹ Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar.
² Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”
³ Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.”
⁴ And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
⁵ And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.
⁶ And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar.
⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
⁸ And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
⁹ Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up,
¹⁰ and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.
¹¹ And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.
¹² The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”
¹³ So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.
¹⁴ And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”
¹⁵ Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.
¹⁶ The glory of the LORD dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
¹⁷ Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.
¹⁸ Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. (ESV)

¹ On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret,
² and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
³ Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
⁴ And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
⁵ And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”
⁶ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.
⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
⁹ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken,
¹⁰ and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
¹¹ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
¹² While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
¹³ And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.
¹⁴ And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
¹⁵ But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.
¹⁶ But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. (ESV)

¹ “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.
² “No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD.
³ “No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the LORD forever,
⁴ because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
⁵ But the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you.
⁶ You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.
⁷ “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land.
⁸ Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the LORD.
⁹ “When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.
¹⁰ “If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp,
¹¹ but when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp.
¹² “You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it.
¹³ And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement.
¹⁴ Because the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.
¹⁵ “You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you.
¹⁶ He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.
¹⁷ “None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute.
¹⁸ You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the house of the LORD your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God.
¹⁹ “You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest.
²⁰ You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
²¹ “If you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.
²² But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin.
²³ You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth.
²⁴ “If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag.
²⁵ If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.

¹ “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house,
² and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife,
³ and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife,
⁴ then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the LORD. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.
⁵ “When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife whom he has taken.
⁶ “No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.
⁷ “If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
⁸ “Take care, in a case of leprous disease, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you. As I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do.
⁹ Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.
¹⁰ “When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge.
¹¹ You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you.
¹² And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge.
¹³ You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you. And it shall be righteousness for you before the LORD your God.
¹⁴ “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns.
¹⁵ You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin.
¹⁶ “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.
¹⁷ “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge,
¹⁸ but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.
¹⁹ “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
²⁰ When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.
²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.
²² You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

¹ “If there is a dispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty,
² then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense.
³ Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.
⁴ “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.
⁵ “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.
⁶ And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.
⁷ And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’
⁸ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’
⁹ then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’
¹⁰ And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’
¹¹ “When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts,
¹² then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.
¹³ “You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small.
¹⁴ You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small.
¹⁵ A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
¹⁶ For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God.
¹⁷ “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt,
¹⁸ how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God.
¹⁹ Therefore when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget. (ESV)

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.
²⁰ And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
²¹ who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
²² The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried,
²³ and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
²⁴ And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’
²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.
²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’
²⁷ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—
²⁸ for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’
²⁹ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
³⁰ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
³¹ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

¹ And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
² It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
³ Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,
⁴ and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
⁶ And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
⁷ “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’?
⁸ Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?
⁹ Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?
¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (ESV)

¹⁰ Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house,
¹¹ and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.
¹² The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts, the richest of the people.
¹³ All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.
¹⁴ In many-colored robes she is led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her.
¹⁵ With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.
¹⁶ In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth.
¹⁷ I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore nations will praise you forever and ever. (ESV)