a thread opens
Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.
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.
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatever state I am, with it to be content.
from Esther 5:13
Let your conduct be without greed; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
from Philippians 4:11 · a strong link
Therefore I say to you, Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than apparel?
from Hebrews 13:5 · a strong link
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.
No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
from Leviticus 10:3
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 21:21
And you shall not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
But you have profaned it, in that you say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and its fruit, even his food, is contemptible.
from Leviticus 18:21
But you have departed out of the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts.
from Malachi 1:12
Because my people has forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
from Malachi 2:8 · a strong link
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,
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
from Jude 1:24
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and says of him, Look, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
from John 1:47
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
from Psalms 73:1
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your obscenity, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
from Psalms 51:10 · a strong link
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.
The look on their faces bears witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe to their soul! for they have rewarded evil to themselves.
from Jude 1:11
But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
from Isaiah 3:9 · a strong link
And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
from Genesis 13:13
For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is grown great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.
from Genesis 18:20
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moves in it.
from Luke 2:14
Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
from Psalms 69:34 · a strong link
Sing, O you heavens; for the LORD has done it: shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it: for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
from Isaiah 49:13 · a strong link
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?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.
from Luke 18:7
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
from Romans 8:33
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
from Romans 8:1 · a strong link
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
from Romans 8:4
Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all obscenity of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
from Galatians 5:16 · a strong link
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.
from II Corinthians 7:1
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.
He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
For whoever will save his life shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.
from John 12:25 · a strong link
And this I do for the gospel’s sake, so that I might be its partaker with you.
from Mark 8:35
Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
from I Corinthians 9:23
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and complete what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
from II Timothy 2:10 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Esther 5:13 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