The Bible, quoted
in its own voices.

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools gush out folly. The LORD’s eyes are everywhere, keeping watch on the evil and the good. A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but deceit in it crushes the spirit. A fool despises his father’s correction, but he who heeds reproof shows prudence. In the house of the righteous is much treasure, but the income of the wicked brings trouble.

“‘Your mother was like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters. It was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. It had strong branches for the scepters of those who ruled. Their stature was exalted among the thick boughs. They were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches. But it was plucked up in fury. It was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were broken off and withered. The fire consumed them. Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. Fire has gone out of its branches. It has devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong branch to be a scepter to rule.’ This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.”

It will happen in the day that the LORD will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve, that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!” The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained.

He who diligently seeks good seeks favor, but he who searches after evil, it shall come to him. He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf. He who troubles his own house shall inherit the wind. The foolish shall be servant to the wise of heart. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls. Behold, the righteous shall be repaid on the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!

“Hear the LORD’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’ For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. They will come and sing in the height of Zion, and will flow to the goodness of the LORD, to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. Their soul will be as a watered garden. They will not sorrow any more at all. Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says the LORD. The LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion and not after the tradition which they received from us. For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we didn’t behave ourselves rebelliously among you, neither did we eat bread from anyone’s hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we don’t have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, that you should imitate us.

“Therefore the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I am against your magic bands, with which you hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms. I will let the souls fly free, even the souls whom you ensnare like birds. I will also tear your veils and deliver my people out of your hand; and they will no longer be in your hand to be ensnared. Then you will know that I am the LORD. Because with lies you have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive. Therefore you shall no more see false visions nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

For the Lord said to me, “Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees. When he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with great attentiveness.” He cried like a lion: “Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post. Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs.” He answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.

Moreover the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still locked up in the court of the guard, saying, “The LORD who does it, the LORD who forms it to establish it—the LORD is his name, says: ‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don’t know.’

This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim. Every one had four faces, and every one four wings. The likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. As for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves. They each went straight forward.