a thread opens
This twenty years have I been with you; your ewes and your she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of your flock have I not eaten.
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.
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
from Genesis 31:38
Its heads judge for reward, and its priests teach for hire, and its prophets divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? no evil can come upon us.
from Ezekiel 34:2
All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor confront us.
from Micah 3:11
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 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
from Leviticus 10:3
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
from Exodus 14:4
And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it: that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.
from Romans 9:17
From now on I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.
from John 17:26
Having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself:
from John 15:15
Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
from Ephesians 1:9 · 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,
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 Jude 1:24 · a strong link
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
from Ephesians 5:27
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.
from II Corinthians 4:14
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
from Romans 8:11 · a strong link
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
from Romans 8:2 · 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.
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 shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. Spots they are and blemishes, reveling with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
from II Peter 2:15
But to them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
from II Peter 2:13
Who knows the power of your anger? even according to your fear, so is your wrath.
from Romans 2:8
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.
Therefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name:
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?
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
from Luke 18:7
And she was a widow of about eighty and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
from I Timothy 5:5 · a strong link
And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
from Luke 2:37
Do not rebuke an elder, but plead with him as a father; and the younger men as brothers;
from Acts 14:23
Young men likewise exhort to be self-controlled.
from I Timothy 5:1
Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw near, when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them;
from Titus 2:6
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.
Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside you.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Because your loving devotion is better than life, my lips shall praise you.
from Psalms 73:25 · a strong link
I beg you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
from Psalms 63:3
For the love of Christ compels us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
from Romans 12:1
Nor consider that it is better for us, so that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
from II Corinthians 5:14
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Genesis 31:38 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