The Bible, quoted
in its own voices.

The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime; but I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet; and I will cut off the judge from among them, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the LORD. The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have rejected the LORD’s law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked; but I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”

They angered him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled for their sakes; because they were rebellious against his spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips. They didn’t destroy the peoples, as the LORD commanded them, but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works. They served their idols, which became a snare to them. Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood. Thus they were defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds. Therefore the LORD burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance.

“Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

“What do you want?” “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” “You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give, but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

For they have prepared their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their anger smolders all night. In the morning it burns as a flaming fire. They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges. All their kings have fallen. There is no one among them who calls to me. Ephraim mixes himself among the nations. Ephraim is a pancake not turned over. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he doesn’t realize it. Indeed, gray hairs are here and there on him, and he doesn’t realize it. The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they haven’t returned to the LORD their God, nor sought him, for all this.

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD of Armies to you priests who despise my name. “You say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘The LORD’s table is contemptible.’ When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?” says the LORD of Armies. “Now, please entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With this, will he accept any of you?” says the LORD of Armies.

“In those times many will stand up against the king of the south. Also the children of the violent among your people will lift themselves up to establish the vision, but they will fall. So the king of the north will come and cast up a mound, and take a well-fortified city. The forces of the south won’t stand, neither will his select troops, neither will there be any strength to stand. But he who comes against him will do according to his own will, and no one will stand before him. He will stand in the glorious land, and destruction will be in his hand. He will set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and with him equitable conditions. He will perform them. He will give him the daughter of women, to destroy the kingdom, but she will not stand, and won’t be for him. After this he will turn his face to the islands, and will take many, but a prince will cause the reproach offered by him to cease. Yes, moreover, he will cause his reproach to turn on him. Then he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land; but he will stumble and fall, and won’t be found.

In the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, the Lord GOD’s hand fell on me there. Then I saw, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of fire—from the appearance of his waist and downward, fire, and from his waist and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as it were glowing metal. He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and the sky, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looks toward the north, where there was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. Behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain. Then he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and saw, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you will again see yet other great abominations.”

This will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples who have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth. It will happen in that day that a great panic from the LORD will be among them; and they will each seize the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor. Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, silver, and clothing, in great abundance. A plague like this will fall on the horse, on the mule, on the camel, on the donkey, and on all the animals that will be in those camps.

Now the LORD’s word came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship and he was laying down, and was fast asleep. So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.”