a thread opens
Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion; they, they are your lot: even to them have you poured a drink offering, you have offered a grain offering. Should I receive comfort in these?
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.
Woe to him that says to the wood, Awake; to the mute stone, Arise, it shall teach! Look, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
from Isaiah 57:6
Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of skilled men.
from Habakkuk 2:19
The workman melts a carved image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains.
from Jeremiah 10:9
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
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.
from Psalms 65:4 · a strong link
Happy are you, O Israel: who is like you, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of your help, and who is the sword of your excellence! and your enemies shall be found liars to you; and you shall tread upon their high places.
from Psalms 33:12
Look, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.
from Deuteronomy 33:29
And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
from Isaiah 12:2 · a strong link
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 able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, patience, and abundant in goodness and truth,
from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link
But you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, patience, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
from Exodus 34:6 · a strong link
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
from Psalms 86:15
Or despise you the riches of his goodness and forbearance and patience; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
from Ephesians 1:7
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
And said, O full of all deceit and all mischief, you child of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
from II Peter 2:15
This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
from Acts 13:10
And he said to them, To what then were you baptized? And they said, To John’s baptism.
from Acts 18:25 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
That in the administration of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
from Colossians 1:20 · a strong link
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
from Ephesians 1:10 · a strong link
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
For true and righteous are his judgments: for he has judged the great prostitute, which did corrupt the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
from Revelation of John 6:10 · a strong link
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, you King of saints.
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations.
The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endures for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, says the LORD.
from Psalms 100:5 · a strong link
Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
from Jeremiah 33:11
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.
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
He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
from Deuteronomy 33:9
For the love of Christ compels us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
from Matthew 10:37
Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with inexpressible joy and full of glory:
from II Corinthians 5:14 · a strong link
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
from I Peter 1:8
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 57:6 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