The Prayer of Judith

9 Then Judith prostrated herself, put ashes on her head, and uncovered the sackcloth she was wearing. At the very time when the evening incense was being offered in the house of God in Jerusalem, Judith cried out to the Lord with a loud voice and said,^(A)

¹¹ “For your strength does not depend on numbers nor your might on the powerful. But you are the God of the lowly, helper of the oppressed, upholder of the weak, protector of the forsaken, savior of those without hope.^{(A) 12} Please, please, God of my father, God of the heritage of Israel, Lord of heaven and earth, Creator of the waters, King of all your creation, hear my prayer!^{(B) 13} Make my deceitful words bring wound and bruise on those who have planned cruel things against your covenant and against your sacred house and against Mount Zion and against the house your children possess. ¹⁴ Let your whole nation and every tribe know and understand that you are God, the God of all power and might, and that there is no other who protects the people of Israel but you alone!”^(C)

¹⁴ For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.^{(A) 15} And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for the one who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;^[a] even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,^[b] we no longer know him in that way.^{(B) 17} So if anyone is in Christ, there^[c] is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!^{[d](C) 18} All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;^(D)

Psalm 42

Longing for God and His Help in Distress

To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites.

The Resurrection of Jesus

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.^{(A) 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.”^{(B) 3} Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.^(C)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look^[a] into the tomb,^{(A) 12} and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.^{(B) 13} They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”^{(C) 14} When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir,^[b] if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”^{(D) 16} Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew,^[c] “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”^{(E) 18} Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she told them that he had said these things to her.^(F)