Holy Saturday

1Verse 1. “Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble. 2Verse 2. Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure. 3Verse 3. Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You? 4Verse 4. Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one! 5Verse 5. Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed, 6Verse 6. look away from him and let him rest, so he can enjoy his day as a hired hand. 7Verse 7. For there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail. 8Verse 8. If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the soil, 9Verse 9. at the scent of water it will bud and put forth twigs like a sapling. 10Verse 10. But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he? 11Verse 11. As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry, 12Verse 12. so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep. 13Verse 13. If only You would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until Your anger has passed! If only You would appoint a time for me and then remember me! 14Verse 14. When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my renewal comes.

1Verse 1. I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath. 2Verse 2. He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light. 3Verse 3. Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long. 4Verse 4. He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones. 5Verse 5. He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. 6Verse 6. He has made me dwell in darkness like those dead for ages. 7Verse 7. He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains. 8Verse 8. Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer. 9Verse 9. He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked. 19Verse 19. Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall. 20Verse 20. Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me. 21Verse 21. Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22Verse 22. Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. 23Verse 23. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! 24Verse 24. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”

1Verse 1. Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves with the same resolve, because anyone who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2Verse 2. Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God. 3Verse 3. For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. 4Verse 4. Because of this, they consider it strange of you not to plunge with them into the same flood of reckless indiscretion, and they heap abuse on you. 5Verse 5. But they will have to give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6Verse 6. That is why the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged as men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. 7Verse 7. The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray. 8Verse 8. Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

57Verse 57. When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself was a disciple of Jesus. 58Verse 58. He went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59Verse 59. So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60Verse 60. and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61Verse 61. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. 62Verse 62. The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and Pharisees assembled before Pilate. 63Verse 63. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while He was alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64Verse 64. So give the order that the tomb be secured until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him away and tell the people He has risen from the dead. And this last deception would be worse than the first.” 65Verse 65. “You have a guard,” Pilate said. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66Verse 66. So they went and secured the tomb by sealing the stone and posting the guard.

38Verse 38. Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (but secretly for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and removed His body. 39Verse 39. Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night, also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40Verse 40. So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. 41Verse 41. Now there was a garden in the place where Jesus was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42Verse 42. And because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they placed Jesus there.