The Lord Is My Strength and My Shield

Of David.

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

^36 (A)Then Jesus went with them ^(B)to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷ And taking with him ^(C)Peter and ^(D)the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸ Then he said to them, ^(E)“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and ^(F)watch^[a] with me.” ³⁹ And going a little farther he fell on his face ^(G)and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let ^(H)this cup pass from me; ^(I)nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” ⁴⁰ And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? ^41 (J)Watch and ^(K)pray that you ^(L)may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴² Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, ^(M)your will be done.” ⁴³ And again he came and found them sleeping, for ^(N)their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴ So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for ^(O)the third time, saying the same words again. ⁴⁵ Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on.^[b] See, ^(P)the hour is at hand, and ^(Q)the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶ Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

The Death of Jesus

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour^[a] there was darkness over all the land^[b] until the ninth hour.^{[c] 46} And about the ninth hour Jesus ^(A)cried out with a loud voice, saying, ^(B)“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁷ And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” ⁴⁸ And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with ^(C)sour wine, and put it on a reed and ^(D)gave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹ But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” ⁵⁰ And Jesus ^(E)cried out again with a loud voice and ^(F)yielded up his spirit.

⁵¹ And behold, ^(G)the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And ^(H)the earth shook, and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of ^(I)the saints ^(J)who had fallen asleep were raised, ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into ^(K)the holy city and appeared to many. ^54 (L)When the centurion and those who were with him, ^(M)keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ^(N)“Truly this was the Son^[d] of God!”

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is ^(A)in Christ, he is ^(B)a new creation.^{[a] (C)}The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, ^(D)who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us ^(E)the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling^[b] the world to himself, ^(F)not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us ^(G)the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, ^(H)we are ambassadors for Christ, ^(I)God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ^21 (J)For our sake he made him to be sin ^(K)who knew no sin, so that in him we might become ^(L)the righteousness of God.