The Bible, quoted
in its own voices.

This is the LORD’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: “Judah mourns, and its gates languish. They sit in black on the ground. The cry of Jerusalem goes up. Their nobles send their little ones to the waters. They come to the cisterns, and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads. Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are disappointed. They cover their heads.

It will happen in that day that the LORD will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel. It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers. I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh even to the border of Ethiopia. No foot of man will pass through it, nor will any animal foot pass through it. It won’t be inhabited for forty years. I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the middle of the countries that are desolate. Her cities among the cities that are laid waste will be a desolation forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.”

“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says the LORD. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them. For those who are such don’t serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the innocent. For your obedience has become known to all. I rejoice therefore over you. But I desire to have you wise in that which is good, but innocent in that which is evil. And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Good and upright is the LORD, therefore he will instruct sinners in the way. He will guide the humble in justice. He will teach the humble his way. All the paths of the LORD are loving kindness and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. For your name’s sake, LORD, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. What man is he who fears the LORD? He shall instruct him in the way that he shall choose. His soul will dwell at ease. His offspring will inherit the land. The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant. My eyes are ever on the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

A man of violence entices his neighbor, and leads him in a way that is not good. One who winks his eyes to plot perversities, one who compresses his lips, is bent on evil. Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is attained by a life of righteousness. One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city. The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

The LORD’s word came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face toward the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them. Tell the children of Ammon, ‘Hear the word of the Lord GOD! The Lord GOD says, “Because you said, ‘Aha!’ against my sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity, therefore, behold, I will deliver you to the children of the east for a possession. They will set their encampments in you and make their dwellings in you. They will eat your fruit and they will drink your milk.

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “The LORD, the God of Israel says, ‘Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. By your servants, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field. I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.”

But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. When they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he pronounced judgment on him. Then the king of Babylon killed Zedekiah’s sons in Riblah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah. Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. The Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the people’s houses with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters also who fell away to him, and the rest of the people who remained. But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.