Readings for Lent and Easter

⁴ I am exhausted from crying out;
    my throat is parched.
My eyes have been worn out
    searching for my God.
⁵ More numerous than the hairs of my head
    are those who hate me for no reason.^[a]
Many are those who seek to destroy me,
    and they are treacherous.
How can I restore
    what I have not stolen?
⁶ O God, you know how foolish I am;
    my guilty deeds are not hidden from you.^[b]
7 Do not allow those who hope in you
    to be put to shame because of me,
    O Lord of hosts.
Do not let those who seek you
    suffer disgrace because of me,
    O God of Israel.
⁸ It is for your sake that I endure reproach
    and that shame covers my face.
⁹ I have become alienated from my brothers,^[c]
    a stranger to my mother’s sons.
¹⁰ Zeal for your house^[d] consumes me,
    and the insults directed at you fall on me.
¹¹ When I mortified myself with fasting,
    I exposed myself to scorn.
¹² When I clothed myself in sackcloth,
    I became a laughingstock.