Readings for April 8, 2026: Great and Holy Wednesday

Ezekiel 2

3 And he said to me, Son of man, I send thee forth to the house of Israel, them that provoke me; who have provoked me, they and their fathers, to this day. 4 And thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord. 5 Whether then indeed they shall hear or fear, (for it is a provoking house,) yet they shall know that thou art a prophet in the midst of them. 6 And thou, son of man, fear them not, nor be dismayed at their face; (for they will madden and will rise up against thee round about, and thou dwellest in the midst of scorpions): be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their countenance, for it is a provoking house. 7 And thou shalt speak my words to them, whether they will hear or fear: for it is a provoking house. 8 And thou, son of man, hear him that speaks to thee; be not thou provoking, as the provoking house: open thy mouth, and eat what I give thee. 9 And I looked, and behold, a hand stretched out to me, and in it a volume of a book. 10 And he unrolled it before me: and in it the front and the back were written [upon]: and there was written [in it] Lamentation, and mournful song, and woe.

Ezekiel 3

1 And he said to me, Son of man, eat this volume, and go and speak to the children of Israel. 2 So he opened my mouth, and caused me to eat the volume. And he said to me, Son of man, 3 thy mouth shall eat, and thy belly shall be filled with this volume that is given to thee. So I ate it; and it was in my mouth as sweet honey.

11 And it came to pass in that length of time, that Moses having grown, went out to his brethren the sons of Israel: and having noticed their distress, he sees an Egyptian smiting a certain Hebrew of his brethren the children of Israel. 12 And having looked round this way and that way, he sees no one; and he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. 13 And having gone out the second day he sees two Hebrew men fighting; and he says to the injurer, Wherefore smitest thou thy neighbour? 14 And he said, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? wilt thou slay me as thou yesterday slewest the Egyptian? Then Moses was alarmed, and said, If [it be] thus, this matter has become known. 15 And Pharao heard this matter, and sought to slay Moses; and Moses departed from the presence of Pharao, and dwelt in the land of Madiam; and having come into the land of Madiam, he sat on the well. 16 And the priest of Madiam had seven daughters, feeding the flock of their father Jothor; and they came and drew water until they filled their pitchers, to water the flock of their father Jothor. 17 And the shepherds came, and were driving them away; and Moses rose up and rescued them, and drew water for them, and watered their sheep. 18 And they came to Raguel their father; and he said to them, Why have ye come so quickly to-day? 19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us from the shepherds, and drew water for us and watered our sheep. 20 And he said to his daughters, And where is he? and why have ye left the man? call him therefore, that he may eat bread. 21 And Moses was established with the man, and he gave Sepphora his daughter to Moses to wife. 22 And the woman conceived and bore a son, and Moses called his name Gersam, saying, I am a sojourner in a strange land.

1 And it came to pass on a certain day, that the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came among them to stand before the Lord. 2 And the Lord said to the devil, Whence comest thou? Then the devil said before the Lord, I am come from going through the world, and walking about the whole earth. 3 And the Lord said to the devil, Hast thou then observed my servant Job, that there is none of [men] upon the earth like him, a harmless, true, blameless, godly man, abstaining from all evil? and he yet cleaves to innocence, whereas thou hast told [me] to destroy his substance without cause? 4 And the devil answered and said to the Lord, Skin for skin, all that a man has will he give as a ransom for his life. 5 Nay, but put forth thine hand, and touch his bones and his flesh: verily he will bless thee to [thy] face. 6 And the Lord said to the devil, Behold, I deliver him up to thee; only save his life. 7 So the devil went out from the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from [his] feet to [his] head. 8 And he took a potsherd to scrape away the discharge, and sat upon a dung-heap outside the city. 9 And when much time had passed, his wife said to him, How long wilt thou hold out, saying, 9a Behold, I wait yet a little while, expecting the hope of my deliverance? 9b for, behold, thy memorial is abolished from the earth, [even thy] sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb which I bore in vain with sorrows; 9c and thou thyself sittest down to spend the nights in the open air among the corruption of worms, 9d and I am a wanderer and a servant from place to place and house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, that I may rest from my labours and my pangs which now beset me: 9e but say some word against the Lord, and die. 10 But he looked on her, and said to her, Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women. If we have received good things of the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things? In all these things that happened to him, Job sinned not at all with his lips before God.