a thread opens
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
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.
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if you have understanding.
from Isaiah 40:12
Who has ascended up into heaven, or descended? who has gathered the wind in his fists? who has bound the waters in a garment? who has established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if you can tell?
from Job 38:4 · a strong link
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Look, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
from Proverbs 30:4
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.
Speak to Aaron, saying, Whoever he be of your seed in their generations that has any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
from Leviticus 10:3
Blessed is the man whom you choose, and cause to approach to you, so that he may dwell in your courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, even of your holy temple.
from Leviticus 21:17
But know that the LORD has set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call to him.
from Psalms 65:4
The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished:
from Psalms 4:3
Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
from II Peter 2:9
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
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,
Now to him that is able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellence of our God.
from Ephesians 3:20
Look, at that time I will undo all that afflict you: and I will save her who limps, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.
from Isaiah 35:2
I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
from Zephaniah 3:19
The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them.
from Ezekiel 34:16
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.
Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
from Jude 1:11
Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons.
from Numbers 16:1
But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
from Numbers 27:3 · a strong link
And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we had come over the brook Zered, was thirty-eight years; until all the generation of the warriors were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD swore to them.
from Numbers 26:64 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And every creature in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.
from Luke 2:14
And has made us kings and priests to God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
That you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.
from Luke 18:7
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
from Romans 8:33
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
from Romans 8:1 · a strong link
For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.
from Galatians 5:16
Neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin: but yield yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
from Galatians 6:8
I beg you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
from Romans 6:13 · a strong link
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
For the love of Christ compels us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
from Matthew 10:37
Nor consider that it is better for us, so that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
from II Corinthians 5:14
And said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it befitted Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
from John 11:50
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
from Luke 24:46
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 40:12 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