The Bible, quoted
in its own voices.

Let me not be disappointed, LORD, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be disappointed. Let them be silent in Sheol. Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt. Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men! In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues. Praise be to the LORD, for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city. As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.” Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you. Oh love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD.

But I know you, that you don’t have God’s love in yourselves. I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God? “Don’t think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me. But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots. Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels. We will make you earrings of gold, with studs of silver. While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.

From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for the waters of Nimrim will also become desolate. Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,” says the LORD, “him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods. Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like flutes, and my heart sounds like flutes for the men of Kir Heres. Therefore the abundance that he has gotten has perished. For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. There are cuttings on all the hands, and sackcloth on the waist. On all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets, there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which no one delights,” says the LORD. “How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So will Moab become a derision and a terror to all who are around him.”

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ— whom, not having known, you love. In him, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Then Haggai answered, “‘So is this people, and so is this nation before me,’ says the LORD; ‘and so is every work of their hands. That which they offer there is unclean. Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in the LORD’s temple. Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty. I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn’t turn to me,’ says the LORD. ‘Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven’t produced. From today I will bless you.’”

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.

They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like warriors. They each march in his line, and they don’t swerve off course. One doesn’t jostle another. They each march in their own path. They burst through the defenses and don’t break ranks. They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves. The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The LORD thunders his voice before his army, for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of the LORD is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?

“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says the LORD of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones. It shall happen that in all the land,” says the LORD, “two parts in it will be cut off and die; but the third will be left in it. I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

Don’t stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape. Don’t deliver up those of his who remain in the day of distress. For the day of the LORD is near all the nations! As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head. For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been. But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. The house of Jacob will possess their possessions. The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. They will burn among them and devour them. There will not be any remaining to the house of Esau.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.