Readings for Lent and Easter

¹² I’m surrounded by many tormenters;
    like strong bulls of Bashan,^[a] they circle around me with their taunts.
¹³ They open their mouths wide at me
    like ravenous, roaring lions.

¹⁴ My life is poured out like water,
    and all my bones have slipped out of joint.
My heart melts like wax inside me.
¹⁵ My strength is gone, dried up like shards of pottery;
    my dry tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
    You lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶ A throng of evil ones has surrounded me
    like a pack of wild dogs;
They^[b] pierced my hands and ripped a hole in my feet.
¹⁷ I count all my bones;
    people gawk and stare at me.
¹⁸ They make a game out of dividing my clothes among themselves;
    they cast lots for the clothes on my back.