a thread opens
And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I cannot tell.
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.
And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armor-bearer.
from I Samuel 17:55
And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.
from I Samuel 16:21
And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,
from Genesis 41:46
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
from Luke 3:23
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance to life.
from Acts 20:21
And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said to him, You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
from Acts 11:18
But there rose up some of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
from Acts 21:20
And certain men who came down from Judea taught the brothers, and said, Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved.
from Acts 15:5
Beware lest any man take you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, after the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not after Christ.
from Acts 15:1
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
from Acts 13:38
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your obscenity, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
from Acts 2:38 · a strong link
Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
from Ezekiel 36:25
And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
from Ezekiel 37:23
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
from Ezekiel 36:28
Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, who caused them to be led into captivity among the pagans: but I have gathered them to their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
from Jeremiah 32:38
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
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall grow old like a garment, and they that dwell in it shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
from II Peter 3:7
Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
from Isaiah 51:6
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
For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
from Luke 13:1
And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
from I Peter 4:17
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 the LORD had said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff-necked people: I will come up into the midst of you in a moment, and consume you: therefore now put off your ornaments from you, so that I may know what to do to you.
from Acts 7:51 · a strong link
To a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of you; for you are a stiff-necked people: lest I consume you in the way.
from Exodus 33:5
And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good land and a large, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
from Exodus 33:3 · a strong link
And Joseph said to his brothers, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
from Exodus 3:8 · a strong link
And he said to him, I am the LORD that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.
from Genesis 50:24
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
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
from Acts 9:15 · a strong link
As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
from Galatians 1:15
To which I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
from Acts 13:2 · a strong link
To which I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.
from II Timothy 1:11 · a strong link
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
from I Timothy 2:7
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from I Samuel 17:55 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