Readings for Lent and Easter

²¹ “Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends,
    for the hand of God has touched me.
²² Why do you persecute me as God,
    and are not satisfied with my flesh?

²³ “Oh that my words were now written!
    Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
²⁴ That with an iron pen and lead
    they were engraved in the rock forever!
²⁵ But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives.
    In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
²⁶ After my skin is destroyed,
    then I will see God in my flesh,
²⁷ whom I, even I, will see on my side.
    My eyes will see, and not as a stranger.

“My heart is consumed within me.
²⁸ If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’
    because the root of the matter is found in me,
²⁹ be afraid of the sword,
    for wrath brings the punishments of the sword,
    that you may know there is a judgment.”