a thread opens
The LORD therefore be judge, and judge between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.
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 Psalm of David. Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
from I Samuel 24:15 · a strong link
I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall look on his righteousness.
from Psalms 35:1
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 Micah 7:9
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 say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Look, I am against you, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of you: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
from Leviticus 10:3
And I, look, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
from Ezekiel 28:22
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 Exodus 14:17
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
from Exodus 14:4
And the LORD said to Moses, When you go to return into Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in your hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
from Exodus 7:3 · a strong link
And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses.
from Exodus 4:21
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 think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say to you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
from Ephesians 3:20
Are you greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom make you yourself?
from Matthew 3:9
Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his children, and his cattle?
from John 8:53 · a strong link
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the farthest parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed, a greater than Solomon is here.
from John 4:12
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.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
from Jude 1:11
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral people, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
And do not fear them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
from Matthew 10:28
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?
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness; but is patience toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
from Luke 18:7
However for this cause I obtained mercy, so that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all patience, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to eternal life.
from II Peter 3:9
Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and insolent: but I obtained mercy, because I did it in ignorance in unbelief.
from I Timothy 1:16 · a strong link
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
from I Timothy 1:13
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor has said, and the man whose eyes are open has said:
from Hebrews 6:4
And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor has said, and the man whose eyes are open has said:
from Numbers 24:15
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.
He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
For whoever will save his life shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.
from John 12:25 · a strong link
And every one that has forsaken houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life.
from Mark 8:35
And another of his disciples said to him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
from Matthew 19:29 · a strong link
Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;
from Matthew 8:21
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from I Samuel 24:15 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