a thread opens
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
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 in that day you shall say, O LORD, I will praise you: though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away, and you comforted me.
from Isaiah 40:1
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
from Isaiah 12:1
And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
from Isaiah 2:11
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.
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 10:3
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 you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat upon them, and burn them upon the altar.
from Leviticus 3:5
And if any man said to him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as your soul desires; then he would answer him, No; but you shall give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force.
from Exodus 29:13
Shepherd the flock of God among you, taking its oversight, not by constraint, but willingly; not for dishonest gain, but of a ready mind;
from I Samuel 2:16
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,
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight:
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
By which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
from Colossians 1:22
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
from Hebrews 10:10
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 10:12
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
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.
And in process of time it happened, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.
from Jude 1:11
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer to the LORD, them have I given you.
from Genesis 4:3
The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Numbers 18:12
That you shall take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which you shall bring of your land that the LORD your God gives you, and shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which the LORD your God shall choose to place his name there.
from Exodus 23:19
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
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 Luke 1:79
Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
from Psalms 23:4 · a strong link
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?
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to repay with affliction those who afflict you;
from Luke 18:7
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
from II Thessalonians 1:6
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.
Call together the archers against Babylon: all you that bend the bow, camp against it around; let none of it escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her: for she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
from Jeremiah 51:49
Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double to her double according to her works: in the cup which she has filled fill to her double.
from Jeremiah 50:29
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
Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;
from Deuteronomy 33:9
He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head.
from Leviticus 21:11
And the LORD said to Moses, Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron, and say to them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:
from Numbers 6:7
And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither tear your clothes; lest you die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, mourn the burning which the LORD has kindled.
from Leviticus 21:1
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 40:1 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