a thread opens
Sing, O barren, you that did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you that did not toil with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says the LORD.
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.
The children which you shall have, after you have lost the other, shall say again in your ears, The place is too small for me: give place to me that I may dwell.
from Isaiah 54:1
And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say to you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
from Isaiah 49:20
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say to you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
from Matthew 3:9
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
And he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, Even tomorrow the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near to him: even him whom he has chosen will he cause to come near to him.
from Leviticus 21:17
And the room whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, which come near to the LORD to minister to him.
from Numbers 16:5
And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army: and Zadok the priest did the king put in place of Abiathar.
from Ezekiel 40:46 · a strong link
So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to the LORD; that he might fulfill the word of the LORD, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
from I Kings 2:35 · a strong link
And there came a man of God to Eli, and said to him, Thus says the LORD, Did I plainly appear to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house?
from I Kings 2:27
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,
Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
from Jude 1:24
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
from Romans 16:25 · a strong link
According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
from Romans 2:16 · a strong link
In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them.
from I Timothy 1:11
He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
from II Corinthians 4:4 · a strong link
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.
The look on their faces bears witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe to their soul! for they have rewarded evil to themselves.
from Jude 1:11
But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
from Isaiah 3:9 · a strong link
And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
from Genesis 13:13
Look, the hire of the laborers who have harvested your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.
from Genesis 18:20
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
from Luke 2:14
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
from Romans 5:1 · a strong link
Him has God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
from Acts 13:38
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?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.
from Luke 18:7
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now has come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brothers is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
from Romans 8:33 · a strong link
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 Revelation of John 12:10 · a strong link
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of your countenance.
For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your countenance, because you had a favor to them.
from Psalms 89:15
And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with your sword, nor with your bow.
from Psalms 44:3 · a strong link
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.
Who said to his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brothers, nor knew his own children: for they have observed your word, and kept your covenant.
from Luke 14:26
Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;
from Deuteronomy 33:9
You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:11
And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
from Leviticus 19:28 · a strong link
And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
from I Kings 18:28
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 54:1 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