a thread opens
Then said Agrippa to Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed to Caesar.
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.
Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me.
from Acts 26:32 · a strong link
And when they had gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man does nothing worthy of death or of bonds.
from Acts 28:18
And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees’ part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.
from Acts 26:31
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 say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Look, I am against you, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of you: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
from Leviticus 10:3
And I, look, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
from Ezekiel 28:22
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with a high hand.
from Exodus 14:17
And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:
from Exodus 14:8
Or has God tried to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
from Deuteronomy 26:8 · a strong link
And Moses said to the people, Remember this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.
from Deuteronomy 4:34 · 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,
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
from Jude 1:24
As you have given him power over all flesh, so that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.
from John 10:29
And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
from John 17:2
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are.
from John 10:28
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
from John 17:11
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.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
from Jude 1:11
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and sexually immoral people, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie.
And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatever works abomination, or makes a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
from Revelation of John 22:15 · a strong link
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.
from Luke 2:14
Jesus says to them, My food is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
from John 17:4 · a strong link
I can of my own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me.
from John 4:34 · 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?
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness; but is patience toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
from Luke 18:7
And I gave her space to repent of her sexual immorality; and she repented not.
from II Peter 3:9
And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for its plague was exceedingly great.
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and a third of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
from Revelation of John 8:7 · a strong link
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.
He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives to the death.
from John 12:25
And the God of peace shall crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
And I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
from Romans 16:20 · a strong link
The LORD has sworn in truth to David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of your body will I set upon your throne.
from Genesis 3:15 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Acts 26:32 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