a thread opens
And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and there remained.
The Vigil
Today’s scroll, one verse at a time — each linked to the last by the cross-references rather than by any model of you. The same vigil for everyone, and a different one tomorrow.
And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
from Acts 12:19
And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
from Acts 16:27
Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.
from Acts 16:23
a thread opens
Then Moses said to Aaron, This is it that the LORD spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
from Leviticus 10:3
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
from Exodus 14:4 · a strong link
And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.
from Exodus 7:5 · a strong link
Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not.
from Exodus 8:22
The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
from Malachi 3:18
That your foot may be dipped in the blood of your enemies, and the tongue of your dogs in the same.
from Psalms 58:10 · a strong link
a thread opens
Now to him that is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
from Jude 1:24
You shall guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
from II Timothy 4:18
And the LORD shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
from Psalms 73:24
They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
from Isaiah 58:11
To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
from Psalms 37:19
a thread opens
Woe to them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Which have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Acacia to Gilgal; that you may know the righteousness of the LORD.
from II Peter 2:15
They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates.
from Micah 6:5
Now therefore stand still, so that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers.
from Judges 5:11
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
from Luke 2:14
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
from Romans 5:1 · a strong link
Look, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.
from Romans 6:23 · a strong link
a thread opens
And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?
A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the director of music upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you:
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, you God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
from Psalms 88:1
Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? you have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
from Psalms 51:14 · a strong link
Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but did fly upon the plunder, and did evil in the sight of the LORD?
from II Samuel 12:9
And the people flew upon the plunder, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people did eat them with the blood.
from I Samuel 15:19
Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it upon the earth as water.
from I Samuel 14:32
a thread opens
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside you.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Because your loving devotion is better than life, my lips shall praise you.
from Psalms 73:25 · a strong link
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Look, how great a forest a little fire kindles!
from Psalms 63:3
And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, says the LORD.
from James 3:5 · a strong link
Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they knew not the LORD.
from Jeremiah 9:3
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Acts 12:19 along this chain. Today’s own vigil is laid separately.
Each verse follows the one before it along the chain a study Bible draws — a century old, public, and compiled by people arguing about Scripture rather than about how long you stay. Every card says which verse it came from and opens the chapter it belongs to. Today’s vigil is the same for every reader and is worked out from the date alone, so there is no account, no counter, and nothing stored in your browser or ours.
The text is the Lantern Modern Standard. The links are openbible.info’s cross-reference set (CC BY), the same apparatus behind the reader’s Echoes drawer. Read a whole book · Today’s table