The Vigil

from Esther 3:12

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

Esther 3:12

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.

Esther 1:22

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 3:12

I Peter 3:1

Likewise, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conduct of the wives;

from Ephesians 5:22 · a strong link


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 14:4

And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.

from Leviticus 10:3

Exodus 7:5

And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

from Exodus 14:4 · a strong link

Exodus 8:10

And he said, Tomorrow. And he said, Be it according to your word: that you may know that there is none like to the LORD our God.

from Exodus 7:5

Psalms 48:1

A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

from Jeremiah 10:6 · a strong link

Isaiah 2:2

And it shall happen in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.

from Psalms 48:1


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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

Genesis 17:1

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be perfect.

from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link

I Kings 3:6

And Solomon said, You have shown to your servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you; and you have kept for him this great kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

from Genesis 17:1

I Kings 1:48

And also thus said the king, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which has given one to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it.

from I Kings 3:6 · a strong link

Psalms 132:11

The LORD has sworn in truth to David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of your body will I set upon your throne.

from I Kings 1:48


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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.

Revelation of John 2:14

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

I Corinthians 6:13

Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

from Revelation of John 2:14

I Corinthians 6:15

Do you not know that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a prostitute? God forbid.

from I Corinthians 6:13


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Luke 2:14

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

Isaiah 9:6

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

Hebrews 13:20

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

from Isaiah 9:6

I Peter 5:4

And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fades not away.

from Hebrews 13:20


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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?

I Timothy 5:5

Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

from Luke 18:7

I Peter 3:5

For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands:

from I Timothy 5:5

Titus 2:3

The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

from I Peter 3:5

I Peter 3:3

Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

from Titus 2:3 · a strong link

I Timothy 2:9

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with modesty and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or expensive clothes;

from I Peter 3:3

Isaiah 3:16

Moreover the LORD says, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:

from I Timothy 2:9


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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.

Psalms 73:25

Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside you.

from Luke 14:26 · a strong link

Philippians 3:8

Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,

from Psalms 73:25 · a strong link

Colossians 2:2

That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

from Philippians 3:8

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Esther 3:12 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