a thread opens
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shone.
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.
Before I go from where I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
from Isaiah 9:2
But man dies, and wastes away: yes, man breathes his last, and where is he?
from Job 10:21
So man lies down, and rises not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
from Job 14:10
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
He sent Moses his servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen.
from Numbers 16:5
To be a memorial to the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the LORD; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.
from Psalms 105:26
And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that comes near shall be put to death.
from Numbers 16:40
And when the tabernacle sets out, the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that comes near shall be put to death.
from Numbers 3:10 · 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,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
from Ephesians 5:27
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.
from II Corinthians 4:14
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
from Romans 8:11
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
from I Corinthians 15:20 · 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.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.
from I John 3:12 · a strong link
And he said, What have you done? the voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.
from Hebrews 11:4 · a strong link
O earth, cover not you my blood, and let my cry have no place.
from Genesis 4:10
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
Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yes, I have made him.
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?
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
from Luke 18:7
If any man or woman that believes have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
from I Timothy 5:5
But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
from I Timothy 5:16
Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh?
from I Timothy 5:8
And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in obscurity, and your darkness be as the noonday:
from Isaiah 58:7 · a strong link
There is that scatters, and yet increases; and there is that withholds more than is meet, but it tends to poverty.
from Isaiah 58:10
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
Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
from Matthew 10:37 · a strong link
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 Matthew 22:37 · a strong link
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
from Deuteronomy 30:6
Not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
from Romans 2:28
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Isaiah 9:2 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