The Christian discipline of closing the day with prayer and Scripture reading. The OT pattern is anchored in the continuing burnt-offering at the temple, offered every morning and every evening (Numbers 28:3-4, the tamid), and in David's threefold daily prayer pattern: Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice (Psalm 55:17). The Reformed-Puritan practice was the closing family worship before sleep: the master of the house gathered the household, read a Scripture passage, expounded briefly, led prayer covering thanksgiving for the day's mercies, confession of the day's sins, intercession for the household's safety in the night, and committal of the household to the LORD's keeping. The practice is anchored in Psalm 4:8 (I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety) and Psalm 91 (the great keeping-psalm). The patriarchal-Reformed reader recovers evening prayer as the substantive household discipline closing the day: deliberate gathering of the family before bedtime; substantive Scripture reading and exposition; prayer covering thanksgiving, confession, intercession, and committal; the deliberate orientation of sleep under the LORD's keeping; the family's collective rest under the covenant promise that the LORD watches over them through the night.