a thread opens
But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon you in their perfection for the multitude of your sorceries, and for the great abundance of your enchantments.
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 when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman; and they shall not escape.
from Isaiah 47:9
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
from I Thessalonians 5:3
Enter into the rock, and hide you in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.
from II Thessalonians 1:9
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
A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall remain in your tabernacle? who shall dwell in your holy hill?
from Psalms 65:4
I will remain in your tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the shelter of your wings. Selah.
from Psalms 15:1
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to see the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.
from Psalms 61:4
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you:
from Psalms 27:4
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
Therefore, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, so that we should bring forth fruit to God.
from Colossians 1:22
Having abolished in his flesh the hostility, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace;
from Romans 7:4
Therefore if you have died with Christ from the elementary principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances,
from Ephesians 2:15 · a strong link
But now, after that you have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn you again to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you desire again to be in bondage?
from Colossians 2:20
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
Nevertheless, to avoid sexual immorality, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
Let your fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of your youth.
from I Corinthians 7:2
Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of the life of your vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity: for that is your portion in this life, and in your labor which you take under the sun.
from Proverbs 5:18 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moves in it.
from Luke 2:14
For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
from Psalms 69:34
Let the sea roar, and its fullness; the world, and they that dwell in it.
from Isaiah 55:12
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
If I sharpen my glittering sword, and my hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to my enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
from II Thessalonians 1:6
If he turn not, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent his bow, and made it ready.
from Deuteronomy 32:41
In that day the LORD with his grievous and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon in the sea.
from Psalms 7:12
And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
from Isaiah 27:1
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God;
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 his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives to the death.
from John 12:25
He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white apparel; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
from Psalms 69:28
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 47:9 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