Simon Carries the Cross

^26 (A)And when they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of ^(B)Cyrene, as he was coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.

²⁷ Now following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were ^[a](C)mourning and grieving for Him. ²⁸ But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ For behold, days are coming when they will say, ‘^(D)Blessed are those who cannot bear, and the wombs that have not given birth, and the breasts that have not nursed.’ ³⁰ Then they will begin to ^(E)say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ ³¹ For if they do these things ^[b]when the tree is green, what will happen ^[c]when it is dry?”

The Sixth Seal: Terror

¹² And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great ^(A)earthquake; and the ^(B)sun became as black as ^(C)sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; ¹³ and ^(D)the stars of the sky fell to the earth, ^(E)as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. ^14 (F)The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and ^(G)every mountain and island was removed from its place. ¹⁵ Then ^(H)the kings of the earth and the eminent people, and the commanders and the wealthy and the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; ¹⁶ and they *^(I)said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the ^[a]sight of Him ^(J)who sits on the throne, and from the ^(K)wrath of the Lamb; ¹⁷ for ^(L)the great day of Their wrath has come, and ^(M)who is able to stand?”

³⁴ And He summoned the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, ^(A)take up his cross, and follow Me.