The Vigil

from Acts 7:39

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.

a thread opens

Acts 7:39

To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

Exodus 16:3

And the children of Israel said to them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of food, and when we did eat bread to the full; for you have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

from Acts 7:39

Lamentations 4:9

They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.

from Exodus 16:3 · a strong link

Leviticus 26:39

And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.

from Lamentations 4:9


a thread opens

Leviticus 10:3

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.

Exodus 19:22

And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.

from Leviticus 10:3

Exodus 24:5

And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.

from Exodus 19:22

Exodus 18:12

And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

from Exodus 24:5

Deuteronomy 12:7

And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

from Exodus 18:12


a thread opens

Jude 1:24

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,

Ephesians 3:20

Now to him that is able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

from Jude 1:24 · a strong link

Exodus 34:6

And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, patience, and abundant in goodness and truth,

from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link

Nehemiah 9:17

And refused to obey, neither were mindful of your wonders that you did among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsook them not.

from Exodus 34:6 · a strong link

Psalms 86:15

But you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, patience, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

from Nehemiah 9:17 · a strong link


a thread opens

Jude 1:11

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.

Numbers 16:1

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:

from Jude 1:11

Exodus 6:18

And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were a hundred thirty-three years.

from Numbers 16:1


a thread opens

Luke 2:14

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Psalms 85:9

Surely his salvation is near them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.

from Luke 2:14

John 1:14

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

from Psalms 85:9

I Peter 2:4

To whom coming, as to a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

from John 1:14


a thread opens

Luke 18:7

And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?

Hebrews 3:6

But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

from Hebrews 10:35 · a strong link

Romans 5:2

By whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

from Hebrews 3:6

Revelation of John 3:12

Him that overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

from Revelation of John 22:4 · a strong link

I Kings 7:21

And he set up the pillars in the portico of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz.

from Revelation of John 3:12


a thread opens

Luke 14:26

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.

John 12:25

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

Matthew 10:39

He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it.

from John 12:25 · a strong link

Philippians 1:20

According to my eager expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

from Matthew 10:39

Romans 5:5

And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.

from Philippians 1:20

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Acts 7:39 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