Readings for Lent and Easter

¹² Be not far from me!
For trouble is near—
    there is no one to help.
¹³ Many bulls have surrounded me.
Strong bulls of Bashan encircled me.
¹⁴ They open wide their mouths against me,
like a tearing, roaring lion.
¹⁵ I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are disjointed.
My heart is like wax—
    melting within my innards.
¹⁶ My strength is dried up like a clay pot,
my tongue clings to my jaws.
You lay me in the dust of death.
¹⁷ For dogs have surrounded me.
A band of evildoers has closed in on me.
They pierced^[a] my hands and my feet.
¹⁸ I can count all my bones.
They stare, they gape at me.