a thread opens
Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
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.
He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:
from II Samuel 23:1
And Samuel said to Jesse, Are here all your children? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and indeed, he keeps the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come here.
from Psalms 78:70
Now therefore thus shall you say to my servant David, Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold, even from following the sheep, that you should be ruler over my people Israel:
from I Samuel 16:11
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
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
from Exodus 14:4 · a strong link
Thus says the LORD, In this you shall know that I am the LORD: look, I will strike with the rod in my hand upon the waters in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
from Exodus 7:5 · a strong link
The LORD is known by the judgment which he executes: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
from Exodus 7:17
The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.
from Psalms 9:16
The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked comes in his place.
from Proverbs 12:13
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
And this was yet a small thing in your sight, O Lord GOD; but you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD?
from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
from II Samuel 7:19
O LORD, how great are your works! and your thoughts are very deep.
from Isaiah 55:8 · a strong link
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unfathomable.
from Psalms 92:5 · 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.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.
from I John 3:12
Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hate you.
from Proverbs 29:27
If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
from I John 3:13 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and its fullness.
from Luke 2:14
Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
from Psalms 96:11
For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
from Isaiah 49:13
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?
But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
from Luke 18:7
They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
Look, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
from Isaiah 45:16
Confounded be all they that serve carved images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all you gods.
from Isaiah 44:11
You shall make you no idols nor carved image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall you set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down to it: for I am the LORD your God.
from Psalms 97:7
You shall not plant yourself an Asherah pole of any trees near to the altar of the LORD your God, which you shall make you.
from Leviticus 26:1
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.
Who said to his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brothers, nor knew his own children: for they have observed your word, and kept your covenant.
from Luke 14:26
And they sent out to him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God in truth, neither care you for any man: for you regard not the person of men.
from Deuteronomy 33:9
And the Pharisees went forth, and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
from Matthew 22:16 · a strong link
Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
from Mark 3:6
Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,
from Matthew 12:14
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from II Samuel 23:1 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