Readings for Lent and Easter

^12 (11) Don’t stay far from me, for trouble is near;
and there is no one to help.
^13 (12) Many bulls surround me,
wild bulls of Bashan close in on me.
^14 (13) They open their mouths wide against me,
like ravening, roaring lions.
^15 (14) I am poured out like water;
all my bones are out of joint;
my heart has become like wax —
it melts inside me;
^16 (15) my mouth is as dry as a fragment of a pot,
my tongue sticks to my palate;
you lay me down in the dust of death.
^17 (16) Dogs are all around me,
a pack of villains closes in on me
like a lion [at] my hands and feet.^[a]