a thread opens
Then his master shall bring him to the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.
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.
Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the next day.
from Exodus 21:6
Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall plunder them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
from Zephaniah 3:3
The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he has gone forth from his place to make your land desolate; and your cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
from Jeremiah 5:6
Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
from Jeremiah 4:7
Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
from Isaiah 6:11
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.
Look, you are of nothing, and your work of nothing: an abomination is he that chooses you.
from I Corinthians 8:4
They that make them are like to them; so is every one that trusts in them.
from Isaiah 41:24 · a strong link
They that make them are like to them: so is every one that trusts in them.
from Psalms 115:8
But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
from Psalms 135:18
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.
Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
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 Philippians 2:17 · a strong link
And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles in the distance, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.
from Romans 15:16
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.
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 I John 2:27 · a strong link
I have shown you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
from John 14:26
Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh?
from Acts 20:35 · a strong link
Take counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wanders.
from Isaiah 58:7
For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
from Isaiah 16:3
Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid a hundred men of the LORD’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
from I Kings 18:4 · 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.
Obey your leaders, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but did fly upon the plunder, and did evil in the sight of the LORD?
from Hebrews 13:17
And the people flew upon the plunder, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people did eat them with the blood.
from I Samuel 15:19
You shall not eat anything with the blood: neither shall you use enchantment, nor observe times.
from I Samuel 14:32
And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with mediums and spiritists: he worked much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
from Leviticus 19:26
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
But to them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
from Hebrews 4:12
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
from I Corinthians 1:24 · a strong link
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
from Romans 8:28 · 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
Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.
from I Peter 1:19
Feed your people with your rod, the flock of your heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
from Acts 20:28
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Exodus 21:6 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