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Voices of Scripture

The Bible, quoted
in its own voices.

Every passage is traced to the person behind it — stated in the text,
carried by tradition, or spoken where no author is named.

Isaiah @isaiah · Isaiah 15:6-9

For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for the grass has withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing. Therefore they will carry away the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have stored up, over the brook of the willows. For the cry has gone around the borders of Moab, its wailing to Eglaim, and its wailing to Beer Elim. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I will bring yet more on Dimon, a lion on those of Moab who escape, and on the remnant of the land.

Stated in text

Isaiah 1:1 names Isaiah.

The LORD said moreover to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured. Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths. For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, they have done this in the middle of my house. “Furthermore you sisters have sent for men who come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came; for whom you washed yourself, painted your eyes, decorated yourself with ornaments, and sat on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you set my incense and my oil.

Stated in text

Ezekiel 1:1 names Ezekiel.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says the LORD, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.

#hope #exile
Stated in text

The book opens "The words of Jeremiah." This is a letter to exiles in Babylon.

Isaiah @isaiah · Isaiah 53:7-12

He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth. He was taken away by oppression and judgment. As for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people? They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days and the LORD’s pleasure will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion with the great. He will divide the plunder with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

Traditional attribution

The book names Isaiah in 1:1. Many scholars date chapters 40 to 66 later.

Echoed by Jesus in Luke 22:34-38
Echoed by Jesus in John 10:13-18
Echoed by Jesus in John 12:34-36
and 1 more

If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.

Stated in text

The letter names Paul as author; some scholars dispute this.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. The rich rule over the poor. The borrower is servant to the lender. He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed. He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor. Drive out the mocker, and strife will go out; yes, quarrels and insults will stop. He who loves purity of heart and speaks gracefully is the king’s friend.

Stated in text

Proverbs 1:1 and 10:1 attribute these collections to Solomon.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their companions and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned for you, and you didn’t lament.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

Speaker, not author

Spoken by Jesus; the Gospel does not name its own author.

Paul @paul · Romans 7:22-25

For I delight in God’s law after the inward person, but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, sin’s law.

Stated in text

Romans 1:1 names Paul.

For the LORD of Armies says concerning the pillars, concerning the sea, concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn’t take when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— yes, the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning the vessels that are left in the LORD’s house, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem: ‘They will be carried to Babylon, and there they will be, until the day that I visit them,’ says the LORD; ‘then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.’”

Stated in text

Jeremiah 1:1 names Jeremiah.