Morning Devotion

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
¹ Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
⁶ Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;
¹⁹ then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar. (ESV)

¹ Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
² but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
⁴ The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
⁶ for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (ESV)

⁴ Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
⁵ Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.”
⁶ He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.
⁷ That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.
⁸ The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.
⁹ When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread.
¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”
¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.
¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.
¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.
¹⁴ This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. (ESV)

⁹ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
¹⁰ “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
¹¹ then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there.
¹² The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.
¹³ And the cities that you give shall be your six cities of refuge.
¹⁴ You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge.
¹⁵ These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there.
¹⁶ “But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.
¹⁷ And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.
¹⁸ Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.
¹⁹ The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death.
²⁰ And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at him, lying in wait, so that he died,
²¹ or in enmity struck him down with his hand, so that he died, then he who struck the blow shall be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
²² “But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or hurled anything on him without lying in wait
²³ or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm,
²⁴ then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules.
²⁵ And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.
²⁶ But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled,
²⁷ and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood.
²⁸ For he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.
²⁹ And these things shall be for a statute and rule for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
³⁰ “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. (ESV)

²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther,
²⁹ but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.
³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.
³¹ And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.
³² They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
³³ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,
³⁴ saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”
³⁵ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
³⁶ As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”
³⁷ But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.
³⁸ And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
³⁹ See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
⁴⁰ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
⁴¹ And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
⁴³ and he took it and ate before them.
⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
⁴⁶ and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
⁴⁷ and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things.
⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
⁵⁰ And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them.
⁵¹ While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
⁵² And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
⁵³ and were continually in the temple blessing God. (ESV)

¹ Now the Philistines had gathered all their forces at Aphek. And the Israelites were encamped by the spring that is in Jezreel.
² As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on in the rear with Achish,
³ the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years, and since he deserted to me I have found no fault in him to this day.”
⁴ But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here?
⁵ Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”
⁶ Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the LORD lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you.
⁷ So go back now; and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.”
⁸ And David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”
⁹ And Achish answered David and said, “I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’
¹⁰ Now then rise early in the morning with the servants of your lord who came with you, and start early in the morning, and depart as soon as you have light.”
¹¹ So David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

¹ Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire
² and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way.
³ And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
⁴ Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.
⁵ David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
⁶ And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
⁷ And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
⁸ And David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.”
⁹ So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed.
¹⁰ But David pursued, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.
¹¹ They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate. They gave him water to drink,
¹² and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.
¹³ And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago.
¹⁴ We had made a raid against the Negeb of the Cherethites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negeb of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.”
¹⁵ And David said to him, “Will you take me down to this band?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this band.”
¹⁶ And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
¹⁷ And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled.
¹⁸ David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives.
¹⁹ Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all.
²⁰ David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”
²¹ Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people he greeted them.
²² Then all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children, and depart.”
²³ But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us.
²⁴ Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike.”
²⁵ And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day.
²⁶ When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD.”
²⁷ It was for those in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negeb, in Jattir,
²⁸ in Aroer, in Siphmoth, in Eshtemoa,
²⁹ in Racal, in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, in the cities of the Kenites,
³⁰ in Hormah, in Bor-ashan, in Athach,
³¹ in Hebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed.

¹ Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
² And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.
³ The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers.
⁴ Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.
⁵ And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him.
⁶ Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together.
⁷ And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them.
⁸ The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
⁹ So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.
¹⁰ They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.
¹¹ But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
¹² all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there.
¹³ And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days. (ESV)

²⁸ After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”
²⁹ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
³⁰ When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
³¹ Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
³² So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him.
³³ But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.
³⁴ But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.
³⁵ He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe.
³⁶ For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”
³⁷ And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
³⁸ After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.
³⁹ Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.
⁴⁰ So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
⁴¹ Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
⁴² So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

¹ Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
² So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
³ So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.
⁴ Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
⁵ And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,
⁷ and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.
⁸ Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;
⁹ for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. (ESV)

²⁸ Summon your power, O God, the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.
²⁹ Because of your temple at Jerusalem kings shall bear gifts to you.
³⁰ Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute; scatter the peoples who delight in war.
³¹ Nobles shall come from Egypt; Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.
³² O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, Selah
³³ to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.
³⁴ Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies.
³⁵ Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God! (ESV)