a thread opens
Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.
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 when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai sat in the king’s gate.
from Daniel 2:49
Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.
from Esther 2:19
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatever state I am, with it to be content.
from Esther 5:13
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.
I was mute, I opened not my mouth; because you did it.
from Leviticus 10:3
But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
from Psalms 39:9 · a strong link
Then Jesus said to Peter, Put up your sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?
from Job 2:10
Saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done.
from John 18:11
He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, your will be done.
from Luke 22:42 · a strong link
And again he went away, and prayed, and spoke the same words.
from Matthew 26:42
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,
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
Ah Lord GOD! look, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you:
from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; whereas the sword reaches to the soul.
from Jeremiah 32:17 · a strong link
They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
from Jeremiah 4:10
But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
from Jeremiah 5:12
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.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.
from I John 3:12
Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hate you.
from Proverbs 29:27
I have given them your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
from I John 3:13 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and its fullness.
from Luke 2:14
Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
from Psalms 96:11
Sing, O you heavens; for the LORD has done it: shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it: for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
from Isaiah 49:13 · 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
Hide not your face far from me; put not your servant away in anger: you have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
from Psalms 88:1
Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit fails: hide not your face from me, lest I be like to them that go down into the pit.
from Psalms 27:9
A Psalm of David. To you will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if you are silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
from Psalms 143:7 · a strong link
A Song or Psalm of Asaph. Keep not you silence, O God: do not keep silent, and be not still, O God.
from Psalms 28:1 · a strong link
Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous around him.
from Psalms 83:1
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.
Who said to his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brothers, nor knew his own children: for they have observed your word, and kept your covenant.
from Luke 14:26
And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked to their shame among their enemies:)
from Deuteronomy 33:9
And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.
from Exodus 32:25
And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people to you, that you have brought so great a sin upon them?
from Deuteronomy 9:20
Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, What have you done to us? and what have I offended you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? you have done deeds to me that ought not to be done.
from Exodus 32:21
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Daniel 2:49 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