Readings for Lent and Easter

⁴ Very many people hate me with no good reason.
    They are more than the number of hairs on my head!
My enemies are too strong for me.
    They want to destroy me with their lies.
They make me give back to them
    things that I did not take from them!
⁵ You know, God, that I do foolish things.
    I cannot hide my sins from you.
⁶ My Lord, Almighty Lord, Israel's God,
    do not let anyone who trusts you
    become ashamed because of me.
Do not let anyone who serves you
    become ashamed because of me.
⁷ Because I belong to you,
    people insult me.
They make me feel ashamed.
⁸ I have become like a stranger to my brothers.
    I am like a foreigner to my family.
⁹ My love for your house burns inside me like a fire.
Anybody who insults you,
    is also insulting me!
¹⁰ When I weep and I stop eating food,
    it causes people to insult me.
¹¹ When I wear rough clothes to show that I am sad,
    people laugh at me.
¹² People who sit at the city gate talk about me.^[a]
People who are drunk make songs
    to sing about me.