Psalm 9:1–20 (NIV84)

¹ I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. ² I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. ³ My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you. ⁴ For you have upheld my right and my cause; you have sat on your throne, judging righteously. ⁵ You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever. ⁶ Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy, you have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished. ⁷ The Lord reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. ⁸ He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice. ⁹ The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. ¹⁰ Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. ¹¹ Sing praises to the Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done. ¹² For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted. ¹³ O Lord, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death, ¹⁴ that I may declare your praises in the gates of the Daughter of Zion and there rejoice in your salvation. ¹⁵ The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. ¹⁶ The Lord is known by his justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion. Selah ¹⁷ The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God. ¹⁸ But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish. ¹⁹ Arise, O Lord, let not man triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence. ²⁰ Strike them with terror, O Lord; let the nations know they are but men. Selah

Psalm 75:1–10 (NIV84)

¹ We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds. ² You say, “I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge uprightly. ³ When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm. Selah ⁴ To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns. ⁵ Do not lift your horns against heaven; do not speak with outstretched neck.’ ” ⁶ No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt a man. ⁷ But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another. ⁸ In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs. ⁹ As for me, I will declare this forever; I will sing praise to the God of Jacob. ¹⁰ I will cut off the horns of all the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.

John 5:16–47 (NIV84)

¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. ¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. ²⁴ “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵ I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. ³⁰ By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. ³¹ “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. ³² There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. ³³ “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. ³⁴ Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. ³⁵ John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. ³⁶ “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, ³⁸ nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. ³⁹ You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me to have life. ⁴¹ “I do not accept praise from men, ⁴² but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? ⁴⁵ “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. ⁴⁶ If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”