Word of the Lord!

"The Word of the Lord."

What exactly do we mean by that, as we announce it or hear it at least a couple of times each week? I see the range of responses of each of us as lying on a spectrum. On one end, God dictated his holy thoughts, word for word, to a series of scribes [Moses, Ezekiel, John, whomever] in the scribe’s native language, and understood to mean exactly what it says in modern English, even though these words have been translated over the millennia through several languages. On the other, we recognize that He inspired these folks to write their holy thoughts, colored by the context of their cultures and experiences. On this end it’s almost as though the writer would say to himself, "What would God say about this if He were to say something about this?" Maybe not quite that irreverent, but close!
A few things are clear from critical study of the library we know as "The Bible." Firstly, the various books were written at vastly different times in history by many different men. Second, they are poetry, prophecy, history, personal letters—whatever genre seemed appropriate to the scribe; at no time did any of them understand that their words would be assembled into a single volume by church leaders. And lastly, the precise meaning of the words which the writer intended to convey can be in serious contention as more old texts are unearthed and more research and scholarship are applied to them.
"The Word of the Lord." Indeed!