a thread opens
And I gathered them together to the river that runs to Ahava; and there remained we in tents three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi.
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 there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the temple servants, to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
from Ezra 8:15 · a strong link
These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king.
from Ezra 7:7
I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with you.
from Ezra 8:1
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 let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.
from Leviticus 10:3
And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.
from Exodus 19:22
And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
from Exodus 24:5
Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brothers to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and stayed all night in the mount.
from Exodus 18:12
And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and indeed, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
from Genesis 31:54
And the angel of the LORD said to her, Look, you are with child, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael; because the LORD has heard your affliction.
from Genesis 37:25
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,
But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.
from Jude 1:24
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience;
from I Peter 4:13
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
from Romans 5:3
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
from Romans 8:35
According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
from Romans 8:39
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.
Which have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
And said, O full of all deceit and all mischief, you child of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
from II Peter 2:15
You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and remained not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
from Acts 13:10
And I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
from John 8:44
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And every creature in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.
from Luke 2:14
Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.
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.
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?
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
For true and righteous are his judgments: for he has judged the great prostitute, which did corrupt the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
from Revelation of John 6:10 · a strong link
Rejoice over her, you heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets; for God has avenged you on her.
Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
from Luke 11:49
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
from I Corinthians 1:30 · 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.
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 Luke 14:26 · a strong link
I write to you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father.
We know that whoever is born of God sins not; but he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and that wicked one touches him not.
from I John 2:13
Whoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
from I John 5:18 · a strong link
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
from I John 3:9 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ezra 8:15 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