a thread opens
Now it happened in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even to Ethiopia, over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)
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.
Then were the king’s scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth its day; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, a hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to its writing, and to every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.
from Esther 1:1 · a strong link
For he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to its writing, and to every people after their language, so that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people.
from Esther 8:9 · a strong link
Then were the king’s scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded to the king’s lieutenants, and to the governors over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to its writing, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king’s ring.
from Esther 1:22 · a strong link
So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles in his city, dwelling with Naboth.
from Esther 3:12 · a strong link
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
from Acts 20:21
Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
from Matthew 4:17 · a strong link
Then drew near to him all the tax collectors and sinners to hear him.
from Acts 2:38
And there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.
from Luke 15:1
So the last shall be first, and the first last. [Not in the earliest manuscripts. King James also had: “for many be called, but few chosen.”]
from Luke 13:30
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
Him has God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
from Acts 13:38
When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance to life.
from Acts 5:31
And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said to him, You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
from Acts 11:18
I am truly a man who am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as you all are this day.
from Acts 21:20 · a strong link
But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.
from Acts 22:3
Except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day.
from Acts 23:6 · a strong link
a thread opens
Because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
Before the LORD; for he comes to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
from Acts 17:31
Say among the pagans that the LORD reigns: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
from Psalms 98:9
O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for you shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.
from Psalms 96:10
a thread opens
For truly against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
I give you charge in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
from Matthew 27:2
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
from I Timothy 6:13
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
from Revelation of John 1:5 · a strong link
a thread opens
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.
Thus says the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger among the children of Israel.
from Acts 7:51
Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness to the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and boil in it: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.
from Ezekiel 44:9
Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy to our Lord: neither be sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
from Zechariah 14:21
Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.
from Nehemiah 8:10
And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite within your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD your God has chosen to place his name there.
from Esther 9:19
a thread opens
And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
from Acts 22:21 · a strong link
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
from Acts 9:15 · a strong link
Listen, O isles, to me; and listen, you people, from afar; The LORD has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name.
from Galatians 1:15 · a strong link
And now, says the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.
from Isaiah 49:1
Who has gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
from Isaiah 49:5
So then after the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
from I Peter 3:22
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Esther 1:1 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