Readings for Lent and Easter

²¹ Have mercy on me, my friends,^(A) have mercy,
for God’s hand^(B) has struck me.^(C)
22 Why do you persecute me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?

²³ I wish that my words were written down,
that they were recorded on a scroll
²⁴ or were inscribed in stone forever
by an iron stylus and lead!
²⁵ But I know my living Redeemer,^[a](D)
and He will stand on the dust^[b] at last.^[c](E)
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,^[d]
yet I will see God in^[e] my flesh.^(F)
27 I will see Him myself;
my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger.^[f]
My heart longs^[g] within me.^(G)

²⁸ If you say, “How will we pursue him,
since the root of the problem lies with him?”^[h]
29 then be afraid of the sword,
because wrath brings punishment by the sword,^(H)
so that you may know there is a judgment.