a thread opens
And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to your father’s concubines, which he has left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that you are abhorred of your father: then shall the hands of all that are with you be strong.
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.
Therefore now let your hands be strengthened, and be valiant: for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them.
from II Samuel 16:21
Watch, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.
from II Samuel 2:7
I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
from I Corinthians 16:13 · a strong link
And such trust have we through Christ toward God:
from Philippians 4:13 · a strong link
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death.
from Acts 20:21
A merry heart does good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries the bones.
from II Corinthians 7:10
My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue clings to my jaws; and you have brought me into the dust of death.
from Proverbs 17:22
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong; because he has poured out his soul to death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
from Psalms 22:15
So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
from Isaiah 53:12
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
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
from I John 2:12
And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.
from Luke 24:47
And I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give to your seed all these countries; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
from Genesis 12:3 · a strong link
You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, And in your seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
from Genesis 26:4
Who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
from Acts 3:25
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.
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved to fire for the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
from Acts 17:31
Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
from II Peter 3:7 · a strong link
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
from II Peter 3:12
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,
By stretching forth your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of your holy child Jesus.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
from Acts 4:30
Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole.
from Acts 3:6 · a strong link
Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
from Acts 4:10
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.
For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck: look, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
from Acts 7:51
And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faith.
from Deuteronomy 31:27
They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.
from Deuteronomy 32:20
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they have gone away backward.
from Deuteronomy 32:5
Have you not procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God, when he led you by the way?
from Isaiah 1:4 · a strong link
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
To which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
from Ephesians 3:7
And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
from Colossians 1:29 · a strong link
Buried with him in baptism, in which also you have been raised with him through faith in the working of God, who has raised him from the dead.
from Ephesians 1:19 · a strong link
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
from Colossians 2:12
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from II Samuel 16:21 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