a thread opens
And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek.
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.
Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Until now has the LORD helped us.
from I Samuel 4:1 · a strong link
And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it.
from I Samuel 7:12 · a strong link
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
from Genesis 35:14
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.
No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
from Leviticus 10:3
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
from Leviticus 21:21
And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
And Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
from Leviticus 3:11
And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings.
from Leviticus 3:5 · a strong link
And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.
from Leviticus 6:12
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,
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
from Jude 1:24
I have manifested your name to the men which you gave me out of the world: yours they were, and you gave them me; and they have kept your word.
from John 10:29
And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it: that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.
from John 17:6 · a strong link
Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it remain in the vine; no more can you, except you remain in me.
from John 17:26
But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
from John 15:4
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.
Which have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
He sent messengers therefore to Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Look, there has a people come out from Egypt: look, they cover the face of the earth, and they remain opposite me:
from II Peter 2:15
And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.
from Numbers 22:5
In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a mournful lamentation, and say, We are utterly plundered: he has changed the portion of my people: how has he removed it from me! turning away he has divided our fields.
from Numbers 23:7
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Surely his salvation is near them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
from Luke 2:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
from Psalms 85:9
And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.
from John 1:14
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
For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
Say to God, How terrible are you in your works! through the greatness of your power shall your enemies submit themselves to you.
from Psalms 47:2
The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves to him: but their time should have endured for ever.
from Psalms 66:3
Slanderers, haters of God, insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
from Psalms 81:15
For men shall be lovers of themselves, greedy, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
from Romans 1:30
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
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
from Deuteronomy 33:9
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
from Galatians 1:10 · a strong link
And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and your words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
from Acts 5:29
And Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, I have sinned; for I knew not that you stood in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease you, I will get me back again.
from I Samuel 15:24
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from I Samuel 4:1 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