The Crucifixion of Jesus^(A)

²⁶ As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene,^(B) who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.^{(C) 27} A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed^(D) for him. ²⁸ Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.^{(E) 29} For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’^{(F) 30} Then

³¹ For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”^(H)

¹² I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake.^(A) The sun turned black^(B) like sackcloth^(C) made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, ¹³ and the stars in the sky fell to earth,^(D) as figs drop from a fig tree^(E) when shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴ The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up,^(F) and every mountain and island was removed from its place.^(G)

¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free,^(H) hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.^{(I) 16} They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us^(J) and hide us^[a] from the face of him who sits on the throne^(K) and from the wrath of the Lamb! ¹⁷ For the great day^(L) of their^[b] wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”^(M)

The Way of the Cross

³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.^(A)