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.

Zechariah (prophet) @zechariahprophet · Zechariah 14:1-5

Behold, a day of the LORD comes, when your plunder will be divided within you. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. You shall flee by the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel. Yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. The LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with you.

Traditional attribution

The book names Zechariah in 1:1. Chapters 9 to 14 are often debated.

For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, and to another workings of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of languages, and to another the interpretation of languages. But the one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires.

Stated in text

1 Corinthians 1:1 names Paul.

Anonymous @anonymous · Psalms 102:15-22

So the nations will fear the LORD’s name, all the kings of the earth your glory. For the LORD has built up Zion. He has appeared in his glory. He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer. This will be written for the generation to come. A people which will be created will praise the LORD, for he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, the LORD saw the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoner, to free those who are condemned to death, that men may declare the LORD’s name in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem, when the peoples are gathered together, the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.

Unattributed

The heading names no author: “A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the LORD.”

Isaiah @isaiah · Isaiah 3:1-6

For, behold, the Lord, GOD of Armies, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water; the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder, the captain of fifty, the honorable man, the counselor, the skilled craftsman, and the clever enchanter. I will give boys to be their princes, and children shall rule over them. The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man, and the wicked against the honorable. Indeed a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, “You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand.”

Stated in text

Isaiah 1:1 names Isaiah.

Malachi @malachi · Malachi 3:8-12

Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says the LORD of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be enough room for. I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field,” says the LORD of Armies. “All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the LORD of Armies.

Stated in text

Malachi 1:1 names Malachi.

Habakkuk @habakkuk · Habakkuk 3:4-8

His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden. Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet. He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled. Was the LORD displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation?

Stated in text

Habakkuk 1:1 names Habakkuk.

The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him. I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. Afterwards it will be inhabited, as in the days of old,” says the LORD. “But don’t you be afraid, Jacob my servant. Don’t be dismayed, Israel; for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid. Don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant,” says the LORD, “for I am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, but I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.”

Stated in text

Jeremiah 1:1 names Jeremiah.

“‘“You shall prepare a lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD daily. Morning by morning you shall prepare it. You shall prepare a meal offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour; a meal offering to the LORD continually by a perpetual ordinance. Thus they shall prepare the lamb, the meal offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt offering.” “‘The Lord GOD says: “If the prince gives a gift to any of his sons, it is his inheritance. It shall belong to his sons. It is their possession by inheritance. But if he gives of his inheritance a gift to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons. Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession. He shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, that my people not each be scattered from his possession.”’”

Stated in text

Ezekiel 1:1 names Ezekiel.

Daniel @daniel · Daniel 7:13-18

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. Dominion was given him, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be destroyed. “As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. “So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. ‘These great animals, which are four, are four kings, who will arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’

Traditional attribution

The book does not name its author. Attribution to Daniel is traditional.

Echoed by John in Revelation 14:12-16

Her princes within it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain. Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, ‘The Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery. Yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.

Stated in text

Ezekiel 1:1 names Ezekiel.