a thread opens
And they shall make themselves utterly bald for you, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for you with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
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.
Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labor not to comfort me, because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.
from Ezekiel 27:31
Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
from Isaiah 22:4 · a strong link
My eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the nursing infants swoon in the streets of the city.
from Jeremiah 9:1
Look, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; my heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaves, at home there is as death.
from Lamentations 2:11
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
from Acts 20:21
By Silvanus, a faithful brother to you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.
from Acts 20:24
Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cling to the Lord.
from I Peter 5:12 · a strong link
But you have fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, perseverance, love, patience,
from Acts 11:23
If you put the brothers in remembrance of these things, you shall be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, to which you have attained.
from II Timothy 3:10 · a strong link
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
from Acts 13:38
To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins.
from I John 2:12 · a strong link
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
from Acts 10:43
It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes to me.
from Jeremiah 31:34
All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
from John 6:45
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
from Matthew 11:27 · a strong link
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.
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
from Acts 17:31
By no means: for then how shall God judge the world?
from Romans 2:16
That are far from you to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that are far from you: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
from Romans 3:6
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,
By stretching forth your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of your holy child Jesus.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
from Acts 4:30
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich.
from Acts 3:6
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
from II Corinthians 8:9
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.
And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
from Acts 7:51
For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.
from Psalms 78:8 · a strong link
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
from Psalms 78:37
I have seen your adulteries, and your neighings, the lewdness of your prostitution, and your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! will you not be made clean? when shall it once be?
from Psalms 51:10 · a strong link
Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off; my anger is kindled against them: how long will it be before they attain to innocence?
from Jeremiah 13:27
a thread opens
And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
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 22:21 · a strong link
For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my office:
from Acts 9:15
And I went up by revelation, and laid before them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.
from Romans 11:13
But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatever they were, it makes no matter to me: God accepts no man’s person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:
from Galatians 2:2
For I suppose I was not a whit behind the super-apostles.
from Galatians 2:6
I have become a fool in glorying; you have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended by you: for in nothing am I behind the super-apostles, though I be nothing.
from II Corinthians 11:5
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ezekiel 27:31 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