The Bible, quoted
in its own voices.

“When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, asks you, saying, ‘What is the message from the LORD?’ Then you shall tell them, ‘“What message? I will cast you off,” says the LORD.’ As for the prophet, the priest, and the people, who say, ‘The message from the LORD,’ I will even punish that man and his household. You will say everyone to his neighbor, and everyone to his brother, ‘What has the LORD answered?’ and, ‘What has the LORD said?’ You will mention the message from the LORD no more, for every man’s own word has become his message; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of Armies, our God.

By David.

Judge me, LORD, for I have walked in my integrity. I have trusted also in the LORD without wavering. Examine me, LORD, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind. For your loving kindness is before my eyes. I have walked in your truth. I have not sat with deceitful men, neither will I go in with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked.

For he will never be shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever. He will not be afraid of evil news. His heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. His heart is established. He will not be afraid in the end when he sees his adversaries. He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor. The wicked will see it, and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish.

“Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time: houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the local governors, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the local governors, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the herald cried aloud, “To you it is commanded, peoples, nations, and languages, that whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. Whoever doesn’t fall down and worship shall be cast into the middle of a burning fiery furnace the same hour.”

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain. The LORD’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.”

“Yet you say, ‘Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live. The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him. “But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord GOD, “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live? “But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.

She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her. By wisdom the LORD founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens. By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.

“Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”

Therefore the Lord, GOD of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies. I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin. I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness, a faithful town.’ Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness.