a thread opens
And it shall happen, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a belt a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
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 I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and its end as a bitter day.
from Isaiah 3:24
He has gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.
from Amos 8:10
And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land of Gilead, to Dan,
from Isaiah 15:2
And the LORD said to Moses, Get you up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel.
from Deuteronomy 34:1
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
For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death.
from Acts 11:18 · a strong link
For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
from II Corinthians 7:10
Strive to enter in at the narrow gate: for many, I say to you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
from Hebrews 12:17
The desire of the slothful kills him; for his hands refuse to labor.
from Luke 13:24
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
from Acts 13:38
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
from I John 2:12
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in me.
from Luke 24:47
To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
from Acts 26:18 · a strong link
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shone.
from Isaiah 42:7
Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.
from Isaiah 9:2
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.
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
from Acts 17:31
I charge you therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
from Romans 2:16
I charge you before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that you observe these things without favoritism, doing nothing by partiality.
from II Timothy 4:1 · a strong link
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
The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
from Matthew 27:2 · a strong link
Saying, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and dared not look.
from Acts 3:13
I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
from Acts 7:32
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.
And the LORD said to Moses, I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stiff-necked people:
from Acts 7:51 · a strong link
Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze;
from Exodus 32:9 · a strong link
For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck: look, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
from Isaiah 48:4
You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.
from Deuteronomy 31:27
Understand therefore, that the LORD your God gives you not this good land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.
from Deuteronomy 9:24
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
Then the Spirit said to Philip, Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.
from Acts 13:2
While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said to him, Look, three men seek you.
from Acts 8:29
However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
from Acts 10:19
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 3:24 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