a thread opens
Like as a woman with child, that draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and cries out in her pangs; so have we been in your sight, O LORD.
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 woman when she is in labor has sorrow, because her hour has come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
from Isaiah 26:17 · a strong link
Ask now, and see whether a man does toil with child? why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in labor, and all faces are turned into paleness?
from John 16:21
We have heard its fame: our hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in labor.
from Jeremiah 30:6
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
from Jeremiah 6:24
For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of the heavens and the beast have fled; they have gone.
from Jeremiah 4:19
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.
Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
from I Corinthians 8:4
To you it was shown, so that you might know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.
from Deuteronomy 4:39 · a strong link
I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded you, though you have not known me:
from Deuteronomy 4:35 · a strong link
Fear not, neither be afraid: have not I told you from that time, and have declared it? you are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yes, there is no God; I know not any.
from Isaiah 45:5 · a strong link
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.
And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a fragrant offering.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity.
from Ephesians 5:2 · a strong link
Making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
from Colossians 3:14 · 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.
For we have not followed cleverly devised myths, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
from I John 2:27
And it happened about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
from II Peter 1:16
And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
from Luke 9:28
And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening had come, he was there alone.
from Mark 6:46
And it happened in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
from Matthew 14:23
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
from Luke 6:12
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.
Greet all your leaders, and all the saints. They of Italy greet you.
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
Obey your leaders, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
from Hebrews 13:24 · a strong link
And Moses returned to the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
from Hebrews 13:17
You shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall you make to you gods of gold.
from Exodus 32:31 · a strong link
You shall have no other gods before me.
from Exodus 20:23
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.
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
from Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.
from Proverbs 5:4 · a strong link
For her house inclines to death, and her paths to the dead.
from Ecclesiastes 7:26
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:
And I saw, and, look, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
from I Corinthians 5:7
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
from Revelation of John 5:6 · a strong link
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.
from Daniel 7:14
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 26:17 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