good friday 2010

1. Now the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the LORD and died.
2. The LORD said to Moses:"Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.
3. "Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
4. "He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on.
5. "He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.
6. "Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household.
7. "He shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
8. "Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat.
9. "Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the LORD fell, and make it a sin offering.
10. "But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.
11. "Then Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering which is for himself and make atonement for himself and for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself.
12. "He shall take a firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before the LORD and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil.
13. "He shall put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, otherwise he will die.
14. "Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
15. "Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.
16. "He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their impurities.
17. "When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel.
18. "Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar on all sides.
19. "With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it, and from the impurities of the sons of Israel consecrate it.
20. "When he finishes atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall offer the live goat.
21. "Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness.
22. "The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
23. "Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there.
24. "He shall bathe his body with water in a holy place and put on his clothes, and come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people.
25. "Then he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar.
26. "The one who released the goat as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water; then afterward he shall come into the camp.
27. "But the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire.
28. "Then the one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, then afterward he shall come into the camp.
29. "This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you;
30. for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
31. "It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute.
32. "So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father's place shall make atonement: he shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments,
33. and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.
34. "Now you shall have this as a permanent statute, to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year." And just as the LORD had commanded Moses, so he did.

10 "None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one."
13 "Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive."
"The venom of asps is under their lips."
14 "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known."
18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

1. Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2. For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3. He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4. Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5. But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6. All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
7. He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
8. By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
9. His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10. But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
11. As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
12. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.

1. Early in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole Council, immediately held a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate.
2. Pilate questioned Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" And He *answered him, "It is as you say."
3. The chief priests began to accuse Him harshly.
4. Then Pilate questioned Him again, saying, "Do You not answer? See how many charges they bring against You!"
5. But Jesus made no further answer; so Pilate was amazed.
6. Now at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested.
7. The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection.
8. The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them.
9. Pilate answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?"
10. For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.
11. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead.
12. Answering again, Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"
13. They shouted back, "Crucify Him!"
14. But Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify Him!"
15. Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.
16. The soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they *called together the whole Roman cohort.
17. They *dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him;
18. and they began to acclaim Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
19. They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him.
20. After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they *led Him out to crucify Him.
21. They *pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross.
22. Then they *brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.
23. They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it.
24. And they *crucified Him, and *divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take.
25. It was the third hour when they crucified Him.
26. The inscription of the charge against Him read, "THE KING OF THE JEWS."
27. They *crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left.
28. [And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with transgressors."]
29. Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, "Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
30. save Yourself, and come down from the cross!"
31. In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; He cannot save Himself.
32. "Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!" Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.
33. When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34. At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI ?" which is translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME ?"
35. When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, "Behold, He is calling for Elijah."
36. Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down."
37. And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last.
38. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
39. When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"
40. There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome.
41. When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him; and there were many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.
42. When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,
43. Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.
44. Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead.
45. And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.
46. Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.
47. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, we pray you to set your passion, cross, and death between your judgment and our souls, now and in the hour of our death.

psalm 51

1. For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
3. For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
4. Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.
5. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
7. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
9. Hide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.
10. Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11. Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.
14. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
15. O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise.
16. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
18. By Your favor do good to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19. Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices,
In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.