a thread opens
And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and its smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
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 it happened, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, look, a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
from Exodus 19:18
And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in two, and passed between its parts,
from Genesis 15:17 · a strong link
But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.
from Jeremiah 34:18
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.
And said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
from Leviticus 10:3
Look, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
from Isaiah 49:3
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
from Isaiah 52:13
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
from Isaiah 53:10
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
from Isaiah 53:3
For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has he hid his face from him; but when he cried to him, he heard.
from Hebrews 5:7
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,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
from Ephesians 5:27
And the very God of peace sanctify you completely; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
from II Peter 3:14 · a strong link
But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and establish you.
from I Thessalonians 5:23
But you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, patience, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
from I Peter 5:10
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.
And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the LORD:
from Jude 1:11
These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.
from Numbers 26:9 · a strong link
Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating greed; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:
from Numbers 1:16 · a strong link
And he set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city,
from Exodus 18:21 · a strong link
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?
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great reward.
from Luke 18:7
Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so they persecuted the prophets before you.
from Hebrews 10:35
And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
from Matthew 5:12
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
from Acts 5:41
But when they persecute you in this city, flee you into another: for truly I say to you, You shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man has come.
from Matthew 5:10
And the brothers immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night to Berea: who coming there went into the synagogue of the Jews.
from Matthew 10:23
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.
Who said to his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brothers, nor knew his own children: for they have observed your word, and kept your covenant.
from Luke 14:26
Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
from Deuteronomy 33:9
The instruments also of the churl are evil: he devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.
from Jeremiah 18:18
Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
from Isaiah 32:7
To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, so that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
from Isaiah 5:23
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Exodus 19:18 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