a thread opens
But Absalom fled. And the young man that kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked, and there came much people by the way of the hill side 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.
A man that does violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him.
from II Samuel 13:34
But if a man come defiantly upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile; you shall take him from my altar, so that he may die.
from Proverbs 28:17
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,
from Exodus 21:14
And you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this;
from Hebrews 10:26
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
And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord.
from Acts 26:20
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellence of our God.
from Acts 9:35
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the its light.
from Isaiah 35:2
God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
from Acts 13:38
Namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them; and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
from II Corinthians 5:18
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus:
from II Corinthians 5:19
Therefore it is of faith, so that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
from Romans 3:24 · a strong link
That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
from Romans 4:16
For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
from Romans 9:8
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.
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
from Acts 17:31
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
from Romans 2:16 · a strong link
Speak not evil one of another, brothers. He that speaks evil of his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law, and judges the law: but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.
from I Corinthians 4:5
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
I give you charge in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
from Matthew 27:2
I charge you before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that you observe these things without favoritism, doing nothing by partiality.
from I Timothy 6:13 · a strong link
And the angels which did not keep their own domain, but left their own habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness to the judgment of the great day.
from I Timothy 5:21
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.
To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
from Acts 7:51
And the children of Israel said to them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of food, and when we did eat bread to the full; for you have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
from Acts 7:39
They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
from Exodus 16:3 · a strong link
And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
from Lamentations 4:9
And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations where they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their immoral heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which prostitute themselves after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
from Leviticus 26:39
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
Of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power.
from Acts 9:15 · a strong link
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
from Ephesians 3:7
But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
from I Corinthians 3:5
Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
from II Corinthians 6:4
For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.
from II Corinthians 12:10 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from II Samuel 13:34 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