The Bible, quoted
in its own voices.

For the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live; but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing. Seek the LORD, and you will live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel. You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth! Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name, who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.

Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ says the LORD; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,’ says the LORD. ‘Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.’ For the LORD of Armies says: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a plunder to those who served them; and you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me.

in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying and behold—we live, as punished and not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.

A Prayer by David.

Hear, LORD, my righteous plea. Give ear to my prayer that doesn’t go out of deceitful lips. Let my sentence come out of your presence. Let your eyes look on equity. You have proved my heart. You have visited me in the night. You have tried me, and found nothing. I have resolved that my mouth shall not disobey. As for the deeds of men, by the word of your lips, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent. My steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped. I have called on you, for you will answer me, God. Turn your ear to me. Hear my speech. Show your marvelous loving kindness, you who save those who take refuge by your right hand from their enemies.

The LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant, and do them. For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, “Obey my voice.” Yet they didn’t obey, nor turn their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of their evil heart. Therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they didn’t do them.’”

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.

Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart will utter understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle on the harp. Why should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity at my heels surrounds me? Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches— none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him.

They have made all your planks of cypress trees from Senir. They have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you. They have made your oars of the oaks of Bashan. They have made your benches of ivory inlaid in cypress wood from the islands of Kittim. Your sail was of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt, that it might be to you for a banner. Blue and purple from the islands of Elishah was your awning. The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers. Your wise men, Tyre, were in you. They were your pilots. The old men of Gebal and its wise men were your repairers of ship seams in you. All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your merchandise.

He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight. He will live; and Sheba’s gold will be given to him. Men will pray for him continually. They will bless him all day long. Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field. His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed. Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. Blessed be his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and amen. This ends the prayers by David, the son of Jesse.

The LORD’s word that came to Micah of Morasheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, you peoples, all of you! Listen, O earth, and all that is therein. Let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For behold, the LORD comes out of his place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place.

God has spoken from his sanctuary: “In triumph, I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is my helmet. Judah is my scepter. Moab is my wash pot. I will toss my sandal on Edom. I will shout over Philistia.” Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? Haven’t you rejected us, God? You don’t go out, God, with our armies. Give us help against the enemy, for the help of man is vain. Through God, we will do valiantly, for it is he who will tread down our enemies.