a thread opens
As an eagle stirs up her nest, flutters over her young, spreads abroad her wings, takes them, bears them on her wings:
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.
As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.
from Deuteronomy 32:11
For I will defend this city to save it for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
from Isaiah 31:5
And I will add to your days fifteen years; and I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
from Isaiah 37:35
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.
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
from Leviticus 10:3
And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
You offer polluted bread upon my altar; and you say, How have we polluted you? In that you say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
from Leviticus 3:11
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: you cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of demons.
from Malachi 1:7
And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long halt you between two opinions? if the LORD is God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
from I Corinthians 10:21
Now therefore put away, he said, the strange gods among you, and incline your heart to the LORD God of Israel.
from I Kings 18:21
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,
But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.
from Jude 1:24
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if perhaps we suffer with him, so that we may be also glorified together.
from I Peter 4:13 · a strong link
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
from Romans 8:17
And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.
from Acts 14:22
And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brothers send greeting to the brothers which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
from Acts 15:41
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
However I have a few things against you, because you suffer that woman Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
from Revelation of John 2:14 · a strong link
And of Jezebel also spoke the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
And when Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.
from I Kings 21:23
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
from Luke 2:14
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
from Isaiah 9:6
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
from Isaiah 53:10
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?
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
For these be the days of vengeance, so that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
from Luke 21:22
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
from Isaiah 34:8 · a strong link
I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.
from Isaiah 61:2
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them to living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
from Isaiah 57:18
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.
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 Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Then Paul answered, What mean you to weep and to break my heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
from Acts 21:13
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
from II Corinthians 4:10
It is a trustworthy saying: For if we have died with him, we shall also live with him:
from Romans 6:8
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Deuteronomy 32:11 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