a thread opens
Your holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
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 country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
from Isaiah 64:10
Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
from Isaiah 1:7
And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
from Isaiah 6:11
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 David said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be adversaries to me? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?
from II Samuel 16:10 · a strong link
And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day: for today the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.
from II Samuel 19:22 · a strong link
And Moses said to the people, Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more for ever.
from I Samuel 11:13 · a strong link
Yet I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt, and you shall know no god but me: for there is no savior beside me.
from Exodus 14:13
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,
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
from Jude 1:24
And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.
from II Timothy 4:18
Fear not; for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your God: I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
from I Chronicles 4:10
Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion.
from Isaiah 41:10 · a strong link
Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he has given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
from Psalms 147:12
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
O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Acacia to Gilgal; that you may know the righteousness of the LORD.
from II Peter 2:15
And the LORD said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.
from Micah 6:5
And they said to them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach to us:
from Joshua 5:9
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
Then spoke Jesus again to them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
from Luke 1:79
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
from John 8:12
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?
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 Lord said, Simon, Simon, look, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
For, look, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
from Luke 22:31
And I will scatter you among the pagans, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
from Amos 9:9
You have given us like sheep appointed for food; and have scattered us among the pagans.
from Leviticus 26:33
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 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 Luke 14:26 · a strong link
So when they had dined, Jesus says to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, love you me more than these? He says to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He says to him, Feed my lambs.
from Matthew 10:37
As newborn infants, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby:
from John 21:15
Brothers, be not children in understanding: however in malice be children, but in understanding be men.
from I Peter 2:2 · a strong link
However we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nothing:
from I Corinthians 14:20
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 64:10 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