The Bible, quoted
in its own voices.

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the offspring of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years about which the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah the prophet for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years. I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, “Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances. We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

“Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven’t I held my peace for a long time, and you don’t fear me? I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they will not benefit you. When you cry, let those whom you have gathered deliver you, but the wind will take them. A breath will carry them all away, but he who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and will inherit my holy mountain.”

“He will stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south will wage war in battle with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he won’t stand; for they will devise plans against him. Yes, those who eat of his delicacies will destroy him, and his army will be swept away. Many will fall down slain. As for both these kings, their hearts will be to do evil, and they will speak lies at one table; but it won’t prosper, for the end will still be at the appointed time. Then he will return into his land with great wealth. His heart will be against the holy covenant. He will take action, and return to his own land. “He will return at the appointed time and come into the south; but it won’t be in the latter time as it was in the former. For ships of Kittim will come against him. Therefore he will be grieved, and will return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and will take action. He will even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant.

I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banquet hall. His banner over me is love.

They are created now, and not from of old. Before today, you didn’t hear them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ Yes, you didn’t hear. Yes, you didn’t know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened, for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb. For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger, and for my praise, I hold it back for you so that I don’t cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it; for how would my name be profaned? I will not give my glory to another.

Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way of the people! Build up, build up the highway! Gather out the stones! Lift up a banner for the peoples. Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your salvation comes! Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him!’” They will call them “The Holy People, The LORD’s Redeemed”. You will be called “Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken”.

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the message was true, even a great warfare. He understood the message, and had understanding of the vision. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three whole weeks. I ate no pleasant food. No meat or wine came into my mouth. I didn’t anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled. In the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel, I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man clothed in linen, whose waist was adorned with pure gold of Uphaz. His body also was like beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flaming torches. His arms and his feet were like burnished bronze. The voice of his words was like the voice of a multitude.

I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly; for what can the king’s successor do? Just that which has been done long ago. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness. The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all. Then I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

“As for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him. “Now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings will stand up in Persia. The fourth will be far richer than all of them. When he has grown strong through his riches, he will stir up all against the realm of Greece. A mighty king will stand up, who will rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. When he stands up, his kingdom will be broken and will be divided toward the four winds of the sky, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom will be plucked up, even for others besides these. “The king of the south will be strong. One of his princes will become stronger than him, and have dominion. His dominion will be a great dominion. At the end of years they will join themselves together; and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to make an agreement, but she will not retain the strength of her arm. He will also not stand, nor will his arm; but she will be given up, with those who brought her, and he who became the father of her, and he who strengthened her in those times.

Now the LORD, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, says to bring Jacob again to him, and to gather Israel to him, for I am honorable in the LORD’s eyes, and my God has become my strength. Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.” The LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and rise up, princes, and they shall worship, because of the LORD who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”