The Bible, quoted
in its own voices.

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?

For the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited. I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding, passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house, in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness. Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent. She is loud and defiant. Her feet don’t stay in her house. Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and a band of angels of evil. He made a path for his anger. He didn’t spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence, and struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham. But he led out his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them safely, so that they weren’t afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain, which his right hand had taken. He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

The angel answered me, “These are the four winds of the sky, which go out from standing before the Lord of all the earth. The one with the black horses goes out toward the north country; and the white went out after them; and the dappled went out toward the south country.” The strong went out, and sought to go that they might walk back and forth through the earth. He said, “Go around and through the earth!” So they walked back and forth through the earth. Then he called to me, and spoke to me, saying, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.”

“Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days which you will not believe though it is told you. For, behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation who march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.

A Psalm by David.

Hear my prayer, LORD. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me. Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous. For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead. Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate. I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands. I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah.

I will cut off the cities of your land and will tear down all your strongholds. I will destroy witchcraft from your hand. You shall have no soothsayers. I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars from among you; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands. I will uproot your Asherah poles from among you; and I will destroy your cities. I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations that didn’t listen.”

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

In you, LORD, I take refuge. Let me never be disappointed. Deliver me in your righteousness. Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me. For you are my rock and my fortress, therefore for your name’s sake lead me and guide me. Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me, for you are my stronghold. Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, LORD, God of truth. I hate those who regard lying vanities, but I trust in the LORD. I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness, for you have seen my affliction. You have known my soul in adversities. You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.

I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen.