a thread opens
Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one does hunt a partridge in the mountains.
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.
After whom has the king of Israel come out? after whom do you pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.
from I Samuel 26:20 · a strong link
And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that you come to me with poles? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
from I Samuel 24:14
And Hazael said, But what, is your servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD has showed me that you shall be king over Syria.
from I Samuel 17:43
And he bowed himself, and said, What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I am?
from II Kings 8:13
Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, please, and take off his head.
from II Samuel 9:8 · a strong link
a thread opens
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
Look, you are of nothing, and your work of nothing: an abomination is he that chooses you.
from I Corinthians 8:4
They that make them are like to them; so is every one that trusts in them.
from Isaiah 41:24 · a strong link
They that make them are like to them: so is every one that trusts in them.
from Psalms 115:8
They have not known nor understood: for he has shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
from Psalms 135:18
a thread opens
By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit:
from I John 3:16
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
from I Peter 3:18 · a strong link
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
from Hebrews 9:26 · a strong link
a thread opens
But the anointing which you have received of him remains in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall remain in him.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
from I John 2:27 · a strong link
But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
from I John 2:20
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
from I Corinthians 2:15
Test everything; hold fast that which is good.
from I John 4:1 · a strong link
And what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:
from I Thessalonians 5:21
The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.
from Deuteronomy 11:6
a thread opens
And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, varieties of tongues.
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
Now for a long season Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
from Ephesians 4:11
For the children of Israel shall remain many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
from II Chronicles 15:3
And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while you be with him; and if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
from Hosea 3:4
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
from II Chronicles 15:2 · a strong link
a thread opens
I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy your people, who are present here, to offer willingly to you.
You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
from I Chronicles 29:17
For our gospel came not to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
from I Thessalonians 2:10 · a strong link
To which he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
from I Thessalonians 1:5 · a strong link
That you would walk worthy of God, who has called you to his kingdom and glory.
from II Thessalonians 2:14 · a strong link
a thread opens
Clean out therefore the old leaven, so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
But God judges those outside. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
from I Corinthians 5:7
And the man that will do defiantly, and will not listen to the priest that stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel.
from I Corinthians 5:13
Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for your people are as they that strive with the priest.
from Deuteronomy 17:12
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from I Samuel 26:20 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