a thread opens
And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor dug; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
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.
And it shall happen in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns.
from Isaiah 5:6
I saw, and, look, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
from Isaiah 7:23
A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell in it.
from Jeremiah 4:26
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.
I was mute, I opened not my mouth; because you did it.
from Leviticus 10:3
And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD has said to him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Why have you done so?
from Psalms 39:9
And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me: the LORD shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.
from II Samuel 16:10
I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.
from II Samuel 3:39
All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
from Psalms 101:8 · a strong link
He also exalts the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near to him. Praise the LORD.
from Psalms 75:10
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,
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
from II Corinthians 4:14 · a strong link
For our citizenship is in heaven; from where also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:
from I Thessalonians 4:14
What then? Nevertheless, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I in it do rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.
from Philippians 3:20
And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out demons in your name, and he follows not us: and we forbade him, because he follows not us.
from Philippians 1:18
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.
Which have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
He sent messengers therefore to Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Look, there has a people come out from Egypt: look, they cover the face of the earth, and they remain opposite me:
from II Peter 2:15
Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when you came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
from Numbers 22:5 · a strong link
Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, so that he should curse them: however our God turned the curse into a blessing.
from Deuteronomy 23:4
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Surely his salvation is near them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
from Luke 2:14
I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation will not delay: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
from Psalms 85:9 · a strong link
When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
from Isaiah 46:13
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?
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?
from Revelation of John 6:10 · a strong link
In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, of which the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
from Zechariah 1:12
And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
from Daniel 9:2 · a strong link
They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourns to me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart.
from Jeremiah 25:11
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
from Jeremiah 12:11
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.
Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death;
from Philippians 3:8 · a strong link
And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
from Philippians 3:10 · a strong link
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
from Ephesians 1:19
The LORD will perfect that which concerns me: your mercy, O LORD, endures for ever: forsake not the works of your own hands.
from Ephesians 2:10
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 5:6 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