a thread opens
And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall your seed also be numbered.
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 your servant is in the midst of your people which you have chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
from Genesis 13:16
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you are able to number them: and he said to him, So shall your seed be.
from I Kings 3:8 · a strong link
Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall your seed be.
from Genesis 15:5 · 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.
No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
from Leviticus 10:3
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
from Leviticus 21:21
And you shall not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
from Leviticus 18:21
Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
from I Kings 11:33
So I gave them up to their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
from Hosea 4:17
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,
Now to him that is able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be perfect.
from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link
I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
from Genesis 17:1
Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, to all patience and patience with joyfulness;
from Philippians 4:13 · a strong link
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
from Colossians 1:11
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
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.
from I John 3:12 · a strong link
And in process of time it happened, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.
from Hebrews 11:4 · a strong link
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer to the LORD, them have I given you.
from Genesis 4:3
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
For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
from Psalms 69:34
Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
from Isaiah 55:12
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?
A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the director of music upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you:
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
To the director of music upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David. The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that does good.
from Psalms 88:1
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
from Psalms 53:1
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immorality, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
from Romans 3:10
Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.
from Matthew 15:19
Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of your tranquillity.
from Acts 8:22
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 father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
from Matthew 10:37 · a strong link
The ransom of a man’s life are his riches: but the poor hears not rebuke.
from Philippians 3:7 · a strong link
They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
from Proverbs 13:8
Look, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
from Psalms 49:6
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Genesis 13:16 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