a thread opens
Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
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.
Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under you.
from Isaiah 5:28
God brought him forth out of Egypt; he has as it were the strength of a wild ox: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.
from Psalms 45:5
Only rebel not you against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense has departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
from Numbers 24:8
Remember, and forget not, how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that you did depart out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.
from Numbers 14:9
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death.
from Acts 20:21
Repent you therefore, and be converted, so that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
from II Corinthians 7:10 · a strong link
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins: return to me; for I have redeemed you.
from Acts 3:19 · a strong link
To the director of music, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving devotion: according to the multitude of your tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
from Isaiah 44:22
To the director of music on Neginoth, A Psalm of David. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
from Psalms 51:1
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
from Acts 13:38
For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring:
from Acts 2:38 · a strong link
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink.
from Isaiah 44:3 · a strong link
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, you are my God; early will I seek you: my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
from John 7:37
The LORD is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
from Psalms 63:1
To the director of music, A Psalm of David. Do not keep silent, O God of my praise;
from Exodus 15:2
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.
And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
from Acts 17:31
Before the LORD: for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
from Psalms 9:8 · a strong link
And I saw heaven opened, and look, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war.
from Psalms 96:13 · a strong link
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,
And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
from Matthew 27:2
For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
from Luke 13:1
Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men who were before the house.
from I Peter 4:17 · a strong link
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.
For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck: look, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
from Acts 7:51
You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.
from Deuteronomy 31:27
Understand therefore, that the LORD your God gives you not this good land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.
from Deuteronomy 9:24
And the LORD said to Moses, I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stiff-necked people:
from Deuteronomy 9:6
Now be not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, so that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.
from Exodus 32:9
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
By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
from Acts 9:15
But now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
from Romans 1:5 · a strong link
For whatever things were written formerly were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
from Romans 16:26
For it is written in the law of Moses, You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain. Does God take care for oxen?
from Romans 15:4
You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.
from I Corinthians 9:9 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 5:28 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