a thread opens
If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.
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 he had begun to reckon, one was brought to him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
from Esther 3:9
So he called every one of his lord’s debtors to him, and said to the first, How much do you owe to my lord?
from Matthew 18:24
There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
from Luke 16:5
But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred denarii: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that you owe.
from Luke 7:41
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent you, and believe the gospel.
from Acts 20:21
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
from Mark 1:15
And it happened from that time forth, that the half of my servants worked in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.
from Daniel 9:25
So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing.
from Nehemiah 4:16
They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates.
from Nehemiah 4:23
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
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 Acts 13:38
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
from Acts 2:38 · a strong link
And it shall happen afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
from Acts 2:16 · a strong link
And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said to them, Men and brothers, you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
from Joel 2:28 · a strong link
Arise therefore, and get you down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.
from Acts 15:7
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 10:20
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.
And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
from Acts 17:31
Before the LORD; for he comes to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
from Psalms 9:8
Before the LORD: for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
from Psalms 98:9
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
And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
from Matthew 27:2 · a strong link
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered to him the whole band of soldiers.
from Matthew 20:19
I will hear you, he said, when your accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s judgment hall.
from Matthew 27:27
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.
To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? look, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot listen: look, the word of the LORD is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
from Acts 7:51
Yet they listened not to me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
from Jeremiah 6:10
But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, so that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
from Jeremiah 7:26
But they listened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
from Jeremiah 17:23
But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my Sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
from Jeremiah 7:24
a thread opens
And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, so that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
from Acts 22:21
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God,
from Romans 15:16
According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, who was committed to my trust.
from Romans 1:1
But has in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior;
from I Timothy 1:11
But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
from Titus 1:3
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
from Titus 3:4
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Esther 3:9 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