The Bible, quoted
in its own voices.

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Take the plunder of silver. Take the plunder of gold, for there is no end of treasure, an abundance of every precious thing. She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale. Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked with the lion’s cubs, and no one made them afraid? The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled prey for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill and his dens with prey. “Behold, I am against you,” says the LORD of Armies, “and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”

Turn to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Oh bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my travail. Forgive all my sins. Consider my enemies, for they are many. They hate me with cruel hatred. Oh keep my soul, and deliver me. Let me not be disappointed, for I take refuge in you. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. God, redeem Israel out of all his troubles.

“Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have appointed forty days, each day for a year, to you. You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm uncovered; and you shall prophesy against it. Behold, I put ropes on you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to the other, until you have accomplished the days of your siege.

Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, you nation that has no shame, before the appointed time when the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes on you, before the day of the LORD’s anger comes on you. Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the LORD’s anger. For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up. Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The LORD’s word is against you, Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you until there is no inhabitant. The sea coast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.

The LORD’s angel solemnly assured Joshua, saying, “The LORD of Armies says: ‘If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by. Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign; for, behold, I will bring out my servant, the Branch. For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua: on one stone are seven eyes; behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ says the LORD of Armies, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day,’ says the LORD of Armies, ‘you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”

These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with him are called, chosen, and faithful.” He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. The ten horns which you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute, will make her desolate, will strip her naked, will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire. For God has put in their hearts to do what he has in mind, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished. The woman whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. A contemplative psalm.

We have heard with our ears, God; our fathers have told us what work you did in their days, in the days of old. You drove out the nations with your hand, but you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, but you spread them abroad. For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them. God, you are my King. Command victories for Jacob! Through you, we will push down our adversaries. Through your name, we will tread down those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither will my sword save me.

Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be quickly shaken in your mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us, saying that the day of Christ has already come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God. Don’t you remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? Now you know what is restraining him, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season.

The LORD’s word came to me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘The LORD says, “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, your love as a bride, how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness to the LORD, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him will be held guilty. Evil will come on them,”’ says the LORD.”