Readings for Lent and Easter

²¹ Pity me. Pity me. You’re my friends.
    God’s hand has truly struck me.
²² Why do you pursue me like God does,
    always hungry for my flesh?

²³ Oh, that my words were written down,
        inscribed on a scroll
²⁴     with an iron instrument and lead,
        forever engraved on stone.
²⁵ But I know that my redeemer^[a] is alive
        and afterward he’ll rise upon the dust.
²⁶ After my skin has been torn apart this way—
    then from my flesh^[b] I’ll see God,
²⁷         whom I’ll see myself—
        my eyes see,^[c] and not a stranger’s.
    I am utterly dejected.

²⁸ You say, “How will we pursue him
    so that the root of the matter can be found in him?”^[d]
29 You ought to fear the sword yourselves,
    for wrath brings punishment by the sword.
    You should know that there is judgment.