a thread opens
Woe to him that builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!
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.
They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
from Habakkuk 2:12 · a strong link
Woe to him that builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by wrong; that uses his neighbor’s service without wages, and gives him not for his work;
from Micah 3:10
You shall not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of your brothers, or of your strangers in your land within your gates:
from Jeremiah 22:13
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.
from Deuteronomy 24:14
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
But showed first to them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, so that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.
from Acts 20:21
But go and learn what that means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
from Acts 26:20
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
from Matthew 9:13 · a strong link
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual immorality, murders,
from Romans 3:10
Are you not then making distinctions among yourselves, and have become judges with evil reasoning?
from Mark 7:21
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
from Acts 13:38
To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins.
from I John 2:12 · a strong link
For the Scripture says, Whoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.
from Acts 10:43
As it is written, Look, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense: and whoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.
from Romans 10:11 · a strong link
And whoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
from Romans 9:33
For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty;
from Matthew 21:44
a thread opens
Because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
from Acts 17:31
Before the LORD: for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
from Psalms 9:8 · a strong link
And I saw heaven opened, and look, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war.
from Psalms 96:13 · a strong link
a thread opens
For truly against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
from Matthew 27:2
Look, O LORD, and consider to whom you have done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
from Luke 13:1
For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,
from Lamentations 2:20
a thread opens
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
from Acts 7:51
Seek the LORD, and you shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
from Jeremiah 4:4
For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, Seek me, and you shall live:
from Amos 5:6
Seek you the LORD, all you meek of the earth, which have worked his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be you shall be hid in the day of the LORD’s anger.
from Amos 5:4 · a strong link
To the director of music, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me: for my soul trusts in you: yes, in the shadow of your wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.
from Zephaniah 2:3
a thread opens
And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
from Acts 22:21 · a strong link
By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
from Acts 9:15
But cursed be the deceiver, which has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the pagans.
from Romans 1:5
For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
from Malachi 1:14
By terrible things in righteousness will you answer us, O God of our salvation; who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are in the distance upon the sea:
from Psalms 47:2
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before you.
from Psalms 65:5
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Habakkuk 2:12 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