a thread opens
And he said, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life; and, look, Sarah your wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
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 God said, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed; and you shall call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
from Genesis 18:10
And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, you shall embrace a son. And she said, No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your maidservant.
from Genesis 17:19
And he said, What have I sinned, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?
from II Kings 4:16
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.
Speak to Aaron, saying, Whoever he be of your seed in their generations that has any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
from Leviticus 10:3
Blessed is the man whom you choose, and cause to approach to you, so that he may dwell in your courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, even of your holy temple.
from Leviticus 21:17
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips:
from Psalms 65:4
How excellent is your loving devotion, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings.
from Psalms 63:5
Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for them that fear you; which you have worked for them that trust in you before the sons of men!
from Psalms 36:7
Look therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness: otherwise you also shall be cut off.
from Psalms 31:19 · a strong link
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
For so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
from Ephesians 3:20
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:
from II Peter 1:11
But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city.
from Matthew 25:34
For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
from Hebrews 11:16 · 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.
And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the LORD:
from Jude 1:11
These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.
from Numbers 26:9 · a strong link
That the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, who were the princes of the tribes, and were over them that were numbered, offered:
from Numbers 1:16 · a strong link
And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers.
from Numbers 7:2
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
from Luke 1:79
The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
from Psalms 107:10
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
Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?
from Revelation of John 6:10 · a strong link
For thus says the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
from Zechariah 1:12
They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, says the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.
from Jeremiah 29:10 · a strong link
And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, says the LORD: though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper.
from Jeremiah 27:22
Say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up its roots, and cut off its fruit, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by its roots.
from Jeremiah 32:5
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
But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
from Proverbs 13:8
But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.
from Jeremiah 39:10 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Genesis 18:10 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