a thread opens
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses: and it shall be a habitation of jackals, and a court for owls.
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 hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the jackals of the wilderness.
from Isaiah 34:13
Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
from Malachi 1:3
The burden of Egypt. Look, the LORD rides upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
from Joel 3:19
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.
I was mute, I opened not my mouth; because you did it.
from Leviticus 10:3
And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD has said to him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Why have you done so?
from Psalms 39:9
Then Jesus said to Peter, Put up your sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?
from II Samuel 16:10
Saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done.
from John 18:11
Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I to this hour.
from Luke 22:42 · a strong link
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 John 12:27
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,
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
from Jude 1:24
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight:
By which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
from Colossians 1:22
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 10:10
Who needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
from Hebrews 9:12
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.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
from Jude 1:11
As for the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from sexual immorality.
That you abstain from foods offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from sexual immorality: from which if you keep yourselves, you shall do well. Farewell.
from Acts 21:25 · a strong link
But that we write to them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from sexual immorality, and from things strangled, and from blood.
from Acts 15:29 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
from Luke 2:14
For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the dividing wall between us;
from Romans 5:1
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
from Ephesians 2:14
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
Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
And I say to you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
from Jeremiah 1:8
Fear none of those things which you shall suffer: look, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, so that you may be tried; and you shall have tribulation ten days: be faithful to death, and I will give you a crown of life.
from Luke 12:4
Prove your servants, I beg you, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
Thus Melzar took away the portion of their food, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.
from Daniel 1:12
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.
He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
from Matthew 10:37 · a strong link
And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
from Matthew 22:37 · a strong link
You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
from Deuteronomy 10:12 · a strong link
You shall keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days upon the earth, which the LORD your God gives you, for ever.
from Deuteronomy 5:33 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 34:13 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