a thread opens
After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.
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.
He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.
from Esther 3:1
O you who dwell upon many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, and the measure of your greed.
from Numbers 24:7
Therefore thus says the LORD; Look, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.
from Jeremiah 51:13
A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of carved images, and they are mad upon their idols.
from Jeremiah 51:36 · a strong link
Therefore, look, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the carved images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
from Jeremiah 50:38
a thread opens
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
Thus says the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
from I Corinthians 8:4
For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
from Isaiah 44:6 · a strong link
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
from Isaiah 54:5
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his wife loves himself.
from Ephesians 5:25 · a strong link
a thread opens
By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
Even as the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
from I John 3:16
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus:
from Matthew 20:28
That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
from Romans 3:24
a thread opens
But the anointing which you have received of him remains in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall remain in him.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
from I John 2:27
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
from I Corinthians 2:13 · a strong link
For we have not followed cleverly devised myths, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
from I Corinthians 2:4
Neither give heed to myths and endless genealogies, which promote controversies, rather than godly building up in faith: so do.
from II Peter 1:16
Not giving heed to Jewish myths, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
from I Timothy 1:4 · a strong link
Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
from Titus 1:14 · a strong link
a thread opens
And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, varieties of tongues.
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
Which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
from Ephesians 4:11
But the Helper, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you.
from Ephesians 3:5
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has shed forth this, which you now see and hear.
from John 14:26 · a strong link
And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit.
from Acts 2:33 · a strong link
a thread opens
I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy your people, who are present here, to offer willingly to you.
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
from Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.
from Isaiah 55:11 · a strong link
Who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
from John 6:63 · a strong link
a thread opens
Clean out therefore the old leaven, so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
from I Corinthians 5:7
The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
from I Peter 1:19 · a strong link
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 John 1:29
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Esther 3:1 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