Readings for Lent and Easter

⁴ I cannot even count all those who hate me without cause. They are influential men, these who plot to kill me though I am innocent. They demand that I be punished for what I didn’t do.

⁵ O God, you know so well how stupid I am, and you know all my sins. ⁶ O Lord God of the armies of heaven, don’t let me be a stumbling block to those who trust in you. O God of Israel, don’t let me cause them to be confused, ⁷ though I am mocked and cursed and shamed for your sake. ⁸ Even my own brothers pretend they don’t know me! ⁹ My zeal for God and his work^[a] burns hot within me. And because I advocate your cause, your enemies insult me even as they insult you. ¹⁰ How they scoff and mock me when I mourn and fast before the Lord! ¹¹ How they talk about me when I wear sackcloth to show my humiliation and sorrow for my sins! ¹² I am the talk of the town and the song of the drunkards.