The Bible, quoted
in its own voices.

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.

“‘The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within. He who is in the field will die by the sword. He who is in the city will be devoured by famine and pestilence. But of those who escape, they will escape and will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, everyone in his iniquity. All hands will be feeble, and all knees will be weak as water. They will also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror will cover them. Shame will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.

“Make him drunk, for he magnified himself against the LORD. Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he also will be in derision. For wasn’t Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head. You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock. Be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss.

The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father; but a foolish son brings grief to his mother. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death. The LORD will not allow the soul of the righteous to go hungry, but he thrusts away the desire of the wicked. He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth. He who gathers in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during the harvest is a son who causes shame.

The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings”? Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what the LORD of Armies has purposed concerning Egypt. The princes of Zoan have become fools. The princes of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go astray, those who are the cornerstone of her tribes. The LORD has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the middle of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

The angel who talked with me came again and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. He said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I have seen, and behold, a lamp stand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side of it.” I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?” Then the angel who talked with me answered me, “Don’t you know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.”

Then he came to the gate which looks toward the east, and went up its steps. He measured the threshold of the gate, one reed wide; and the other threshold, one reed wide. Every lodge was one reed long and one reed wide. Between the lodges was five cubits. The threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed. He measured also the porch of the gate toward the house, one reed. Then he measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its posts, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently. They prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them pointed to when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow them. To them it was revealed that they served not themselves, but you, in these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.

and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

The LORD says: “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind. I will send to Babylon strangers, who will winnow her. They will empty her land; for in the day of trouble they will be against her all around. Against him who bends, let the archer bend his bow, also against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail. Don’t spare her young men! Utterly destroy all her army! They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets. For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God, by the LORD of Armies; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.