The Bible, quoted
in its own voices.

“Where the body is, there the vultures will also be gathered together.”

But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.

You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck. How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, the fragrance of your perfumes than all kinds of spices! Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon. My sister, my bride, is a locked up garden; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.

Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each man examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself, and not in someone else. For each man will bear his own burden. But let him who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches.

“‘How do you say, “We are wise, and the LORD’s law is with us”? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made that a lie. The wise men are disappointed. They are dismayed and trapped. Behold, they have rejected the LORD’s word. What kind of wisdom is in them? Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to those who will possess them. For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They couldn’t blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. In the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says the LORD. “‘I will utterly consume them, says the LORD. No grapes will be on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will fade. The things that I have given them will pass away from them.’”

“Behold, I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame, and forges a weapon for his work; and I have created the destroyer to destroy. No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the LORD’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says the LORD.

“You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand later.” “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”

Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands. He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, but he who is perverse in his ways despises him. The fool’s talk brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them. Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox. A truthful witness will not lie, but a false witness pours out lies. A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn’t find it, but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.

Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying, “Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king, and its princes, and brought them to him to Babylon. He took one of the royal offspring, and made a covenant with him. He also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land, that the kingdom might be brought low, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the covenant, and still escape?

Therefore the LORD of Armies says, “Behold, I will melt them and test them; for how should I deal with the daughter of my people? Their tongue is a deadly arrow. It speaks deceit. One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart, he waits to ambush him. Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says the LORD. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on a nation such as this? I will weep and wail for the mountains, and lament for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are burned up, so that no one passes through; Men can’t hear the voice of the livestock. Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled. They are gone. “I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.” Who is wise enough to understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?