Psalm 22 (For Good Friday)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
       Why are you so far from saving me,
       so far from the words of my groaning?

² O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
       by night, and am not silent.

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
       you are the praise of Israel.

⁴ In you our fathers put their trust;
       they trusted and you delivered them.

⁵ They cried to you and were saved;
       in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
       scorned by men and despised by the people.

⁷ All who see me mock me;
       they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

⁸ "He trusts in the LORD;
       let the LORD rescue him.
       Let him deliver him,
       since he delights in him."

⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb;
       you made me trust in you
       even at my mother's breast.

¹⁰ From birth I was cast upon you;
       from my mother's womb you have been my God.

¹¹ Do not be far from me,
       for trouble is near
       and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls surround me;
       strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

¹³ Roaring lions tearing their prey
       open their mouths wide against me.

¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
       and all my bones are out of joint.
       My heart has turned to wax;
       it has melted away within me.

¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
       and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
       you lay me  in the dust of death.

¹⁶ Dogs have surrounded me;
       a band of evil men has encircled me,
       they have pierced my hands and my feet.

¹⁷ I can count all my bones;
       people stare and gloat over me.

¹⁸ They divide my garments among them
       and cast lots for my clothing.

¹⁹ But you, O LORD, be not far off;
       O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

²⁰ Deliver my life from the sword,
       my precious life from the power of the dogs.

²¹ Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
       save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

²² I will declare your name to my brothers;
       in the congregation I will praise you.

²³ You who fear the LORD, praise him!
       All you descendants of Jacob, honour him!
       Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

²⁴ For he has not despised or disdained
       the suffering of the afflicted one;
       he has not hidden his face from him
       but has listened to his cry for help.

²⁵ From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
       before those who fear you will I fulfil my vows.

²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied;
       they who seek the LORD will praise him—
       may your hearts live forever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth
       will remember and turn to the LORD,
       and all the families of the nations
       will bow down before him,

²⁸ for dominion belongs to the LORD
       and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
       all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
       those who cannot keep themselves alive.

³⁰ Posterity will serve him;
       future generations will be told about the Lord.

³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness
       to a people yet unborn—
       for he has done it.