[CELEBRANT, spoken]
Brothers
This is the gospel I preach
And in its service I have suffered hardship like a criminal
Yea, even unto imprisonment
But there is no imprisoning the word of God

[MAN 1, spoken]
Dearly Beloved
Do not be surprised if the world hates you
We who love our brothers have crossed over to life
But they who do not love abide in death
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer

[MAN 2, spoken]
Dear Mom and Dad
Nothing will makе me change my mind
Do not feel badly or worry about me
Try to undеrstand
I am now a man

[CELEBRANT]
You can lock up the bold men
Go and lock up your bold men and hold men in tow
You can stifle all adventure for a century or so
Smother hope before it's risen
Watch it wizen like a gourd
But you cannot imprison
The word of the Lord
[CELEBRANT & STREET CHORUS]
No, you cannot imprison the word of the Lord

[CELEBRANT]
For the word
For the word was at the birth of the beginning
It made the heavens and the earth and set them spinning
And for several million years
It's endured all our forums and fine ideas
It's been rough
It's been rough but it appears to be winning!

There are people who doubt it
There are people who doubt it and shout it out loud
There are local vocal yokels who we know collect a crowd
They can fashion a rebuttal
That's as subtle as a sword
But they're never gonna scuttle
The word of the Lord

[CELEBRANT & STREET CHORUS]
No, they're never gonna scuttle the word of the Lord

[MAN 3, spoken]
Dear Brothers
I think that God has made us apostles
The most abject of mankind
We hunger and thirst
We are naked, we are roughly handled
And we have no fixed abode
They curse us and we bless
They persecute us and we suffer it
They treat us as the scum of the earth
The dregs of humanity
To this very day
[YOUNG WOMAN, spoken]
Dear folks
Jim looked very well on my first visit
With his head clean-shaven
He looked about nineteen years old
He says the prison food is very good, cafeteria-style
For the first few days he's not allowed any books
Except his Bible and his breviary
We sat and talked about our marriage
And about how we would grow through this
When I hugged him he smelled so good
A smell of clean, plain soap
He smelled like a nun
Or like a child when you put him to bed

[CELEBRANT]
All you big men of merit
All you big men of merit who ferret out flaws
You rely on our compliance with your science and your laws
Find a freedom to demolish
While you polish some award
But you cannot abolish
The word of the Lord

[CELEBRANT & STREET CHORUS]
No, you cannot abolish the word of the Lord
[CELEBRANT]
For the word
For the word created mud and got it going
It filled our empty brains with blood and set it flowing
And for thousands of regimes
It's endured all our follies and fancy schemes
It's been tough
It's been tough, and yet it seems to be growing

Oh, you people of power
Oh, you people of power, your hour is now
You may plan to rule forever but you never do somehow!
So we wait in silent treason until reason is restored
And we wait for the season of the word of the Lord
We await the season of the word of the Lord
We wait
We wait for the word of the Lord