a thread opens
I will lay your cities waste, and you shall be desolate, and you shall know that I am the LORD.
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 I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the jackals of the wilderness.
from Ezekiel 35:4
Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
from Malachi 1:3
The burden of Egypt. Look, the LORD rides upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
from Joel 3:19
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
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
from Isaiah 49:3
And have made us to our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
from I Peter 2:9 · a strong link
And there shall be no night there; and they need no lamp, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
from Revelation of John 5:10 · a strong link
Then shall the King say to them on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Not rendering evil for evil, or insult for insult: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that you are called to this, so that you should inherit a blessing.
from Matthew 25:34
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,
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
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 II Corinthians 4:14
Whom we preach, admonishing everyone, and teaching everyone in all wisdom; that we may present everyone mature in Christ Jesus:
from Ephesians 5:27
And the servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome; but be gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient,
from Colossians 1:28
Do all things without grumbling and arguing:
from II Timothy 2:24 · 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.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.
from I John 3:12
Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hate you.
from Proverbs 29:27
If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
from I John 3:13 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Surely his salvation is near them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
from Luke 2:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
from Psalms 85:9
He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
from John 1:14
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?
But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
from Luke 18:7
Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
Come, see the works of the LORD, what desolations he has made in the earth.
from Psalms 66:5
And Pharaoh’s servants said to him, How long shall this man be a snare to us? let the men go, so that they may serve the LORD their God: do you not know yet that Egypt is destroyed?
from Psalms 46:8
Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.
from Exodus 10:7
They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me: for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.
from Joshua 23:13 · a strong link
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
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives to the death.
from John 12:25
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
from Revelation of John 12:11 · a strong link
(For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;)
from II Corinthians 10:3
Therefore take to you the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
from II Corinthians 10:4
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ezekiel 35:4 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