a thread opens
I will go before you, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of bronze, and cut apart the bars of iron:
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.
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
from Isaiah 45:2
And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do to them, and not forsake them.
from Luke 3:5
Look, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that labors with child together: a great company shall return there.
from Isaiah 42:16
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.
And said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
from Leviticus 10:3
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
from Isaiah 49:3
And has made us kings and priests to God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
from I Peter 2:9 · a strong link
That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father which has sent him.
Whoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father: [but] he that acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
from John 5:23 · a strong link
Then they said to him, Where is your Father? Jesus answered, You neither know me, nor my Father: if you had known me, you should have known my Father also.
from I John 2:23
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
The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
from Revelation of John 14:5 · a strong link
And I will make her who limped a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from now on, even for ever.
from Zephaniah 3:13
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
from Micah 4:7
The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.
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
Look, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.
from Numbers 27:3
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
from Ezekiel 18:4
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
from Luke 2:14
And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.
from Isaiah 9:6
I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.
from Luke 1:35
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?
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
from Luke 18:7
And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
from I Timothy 5:5
I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
from Luke 18:1
When I shall bring you down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set you in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;
from Psalms 27:13 · a strong link
For thus says the LORD of hosts; After the glory has he sent me to the nations which plundered you: for he that touches you touches the apple of his eye.
from Ezekiel 26:20
When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people;
from Zechariah 2:8
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.
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
By Silvanus, a faithful brother to you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.
from Acts 20:24
And I beg you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation: for I have written a letter to you in few words.
from I Peter 5:12 · a strong link
Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
from Hebrews 13:22
And this I do for the gospel’s sake, so that I might be its partaker with you.
from Hebrews 3:1
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 45:2 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