a thread opens
Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? says your God.
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 they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
from Isaiah 66:9 · a strong link
The sorrows of a laboring woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children.
from Isaiah 37:3 · a strong link
A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
from Hosea 13:13
A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
from Proverbs 22:3 · a strong link
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
I tell you, No: but, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.
from Acts 20:21
Then he went, and took with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also to this wicked generation.
from Luke 13:3
Then he went, and took to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
from Matthew 12:45
If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not to death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not to death. There is a sin to death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
from Luke 11:26
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
from I John 5:16
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
from Acts 13:38 · a strong link
Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
from Luke 24:47
Look, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
from Daniel 9:24 · a strong link
O Zion, that bring good tidings, get you up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, Look, your God!
from Jeremiah 23:5
And it shall be said in that day, Look, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
from Isaiah 40:9
Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
from Isaiah 25:9
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.
Before the LORD; for he comes to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
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 98:9
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
And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
from Matthew 27:2 · a strong link
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
from Matthew 20:19
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree.
from Acts 2:23
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 we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
from Acts 7:51
And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.
from Philippians 3:3
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
from Deuteronomy 30:6
Hear this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.
from Romans 2:28
And you shall swear, The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
from Isaiah 48:1
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
As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
from Acts 9:15 · a strong link
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God,
from Acts 13:2
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;
from Romans 1:1
To which I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.
from I Timothy 1:1
Of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power.
from I Timothy 2:7
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 66:9 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