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.
For he has broken the gates of bronze, and cut the bars of iron apart.
from Isaiah 45:2 · a strong link
Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
from Psalms 107:16
Nevertheless I am continually with you: you have held me by my right hand.
from Isaiah 45:1 · a strong link
Look, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
from Psalms 73:23
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love to all the saints,
from Acts 20:21
We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
from Ephesians 1:15
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
from Colossians 1:3
For your obedience has become known to all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise to that which is good, and simple concerning evil.
from Romans 1:8 · a strong link
Who is a wise man and endowed with understanding among you? let him show by his good conduct his works with meekness of wisdom.
from Romans 16:19
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
from Acts 13:38
Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, so that he might make his mighty power to be known.
from I John 2:12
But I worked for my name’s sake, so that it should not be polluted before the pagans, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.
from Psalms 106:8 · a strong link
So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the pagans shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
from Ezekiel 20:9
The sons also of them that afflicted you shall come bending to you; and all they that despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
from Ezekiel 39:7
For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cling to the house of Jacob.
from Isaiah 60:14
a thread opens
Because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved to fire for the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
from Acts 17:31
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
from II Peter 3:7
I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
from II Thessalonians 1:7
a thread opens
For truly against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
By stretching forth your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of your holy child Jesus.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
from Acts 4:30
And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
from Acts 3:6
And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour: and he said to the Jews, Look, your King!
from John 19:19
a thread opens
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.
In that you have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
from Acts 7:51
Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teaches all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and has polluted this holy place.
from Ezekiel 44:7
For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:
from Acts 21:28 · a strong link
And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brothers to the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down have come here also;
from Acts 24:5
But we desire to hear of you what you think: for as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against.
from Acts 17:6
a thread opens
And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
from Acts 22:21 · a strong link
At my first defense no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
from Acts 9:15
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
from II Timothy 4:16 · a strong link
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid to his fathers, and saw corruption:
from Acts 7:60
So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
from Acts 13:36 · a strong link
And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem all around.
from I Kings 2:10 · a strong link
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