a thread opens
And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
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 lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, should be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD your God has divided to all nations under the whole heaven.
from Genesis 1:14
And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them cast images, even two calves, and made an Asherah pole, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
from Deuteronomy 4:19 · a strong link
And it happened, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
from II Kings 17:16 · a strong link
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 say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Look, I am against you, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of you: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
from Leviticus 10:3
I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the pagans.
from Ezekiel 28:22
And it shall happen in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river to the stream of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.
from Ezekiel 20:41
That then the LORD your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will return and gather you from all the nations, where the LORD your God has scattered you.
from Isaiah 27:12
As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
from Deuteronomy 30:3
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
from Ezekiel 34:12
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
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 Peter 4:13
And this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life.
from I Peter 5:10
(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show to you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us;)
from I John 2:25
Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
from I John 1:2
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.
Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
from Jude 1:11
Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons.
from Numbers 16:1
But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
from Numbers 27:3 · a strong link
And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we had come over the brook Zered, was thirty-eight years; until all the generation of the warriors were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD swore to them.
from Numbers 26:64 · 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
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and its fullness.
from Psalms 69:34 · a strong link
The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be its glad.
from Psalms 96:11
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?
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to repay with affliction those who afflict you;
from Luke 18:7
If I sharpen my glittering sword, and my hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to my enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
from II Thessalonians 1:6
If he turn not, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent his bow, and made it ready.
from Deuteronomy 32:41
And now also the axe is laid to the root of the trees: therefore every tree which brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
from Psalms 7:12
For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
from Matthew 3:10
You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
from I Peter 4:17
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.
Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
from Philippians 3:8
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
from Romans 8:18 · a strong link
In which you greatly rejoice, though now for a while, if need be, you are in grief through manifold temptations:
from II Corinthians 4:17
And you now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you.
from I Peter 1:6
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Genesis 1:14 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