a thread opens
The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceases: he has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, he regards no man.
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.
In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.
from Isaiah 33:8
And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.
from Judges 5:6 · a strong link
And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hands.
from Judges 3:31
For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
from I Samuel 17:47
But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
from Psalms 44:6
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.
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
from I Corinthians 8:4
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
from Mark 12:29 · 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 Deuteronomy 6:4
See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
from Isaiah 44:8
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.
A new commandment I give to you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me.
from John 13:34
For I have given to them the words which you gave me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from you, and they have believed that you did send me.
from John 17:21
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 the truth’s sake, which dwells in us, and shall be with us for ever.
from I John 2:27
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
from II John 1:2
For there is not a just man upon earth, that does good, and sins not.
from I John 1:8
If they sin against you, (for there is no man who sins not,) and you be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives to a land far off or near;
from Ecclesiastes 7:20 · a strong link
For in many things we all stumble. If any man does not stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
from II Chronicles 6:36
For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
from James 3:2 · a strong link
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.
Which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
from I Corinthians 12:28
And he said to them, You know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to associate, or come to one of another nation; but God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
from Ephesians 3:5
Then says the woman of Samaria to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
from Acts 10:28 · a strong link
These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter you not:
from John 4:9
Then Jesus said to them again, Peace be to you: as my Father has sent me, even so send I you.
from Matthew 10:5
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 to them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
from Hebrews 4:12
God is faithful, by whom you were called to the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
from I Corinthians 1:24 · a strong link
O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things; your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
from I Corinthians 1:9
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 the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said to him, Where will you that we go and prepare that you may eat the Passover?
from I Corinthians 5:7
And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
from Mark 14:12
And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the LORD.
from Exodus 12:6
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 33:8 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