The Vigil

from James 4:3

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.

a thread opens

James 4:3

You ask, and receive not, because you ask wrongly, that you may consume it upon your lusts.

Psalms 18:41

They cried, but there was none to save them: even to the LORD, but he answered them not.

from James 4:3

Luke 13:25

When once the master of the house has risen up, and has shut to the door, and you begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us; and he shall answer and say to you, I do not know where you are from:

from Job 27:9


a thread opens

Leviticus 10:3

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.

Leviticus 21:21

No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.

from Leviticus 10:3

Leviticus 21:6

They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.

from Leviticus 21:21

Leviticus 18:21

And you shall not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.

from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link

Deuteronomy 18:10

There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or a fortune-teller, or a spellcaster, or a sorceress,

from Leviticus 18:21

Ezekiel 16:20

Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and these have you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Is this of your prostitution a small matter,

from Psalms 106:37


a thread opens

Jude 1:24

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,

I Peter 4:13

But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.

from Jude 1:24

Revelation of John 1:9

I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

from I Peter 4:13

Revelation of John 7:14

And I said to him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

from Revelation of John 1:9

Zechariah 14:2

For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

from Matthew 24:21


a thread opens

Jude 1:11

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.

II Peter 2:15

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

Acts 13:10

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

John 8:44

You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and remained not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

from Acts 13:10

Genesis 3:15

And I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

from John 8:44


a thread opens

Luke 2:14

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

from Luke 2:14

Hebrews 2:13

And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Look I and the children which God has given me.

from Isaiah 9:6 · a strong link

John 10:29

My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

from Hebrews 2:13


a thread opens

Luke 18:7

And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?

I Timothy 5:5

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

I Peter 3:5

For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands:

from I Timothy 5:5

Titus 2:3

The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

from I Peter 3:5

Titus 2:4

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

from Titus 2:3

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are commendable; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think on these things.

from I Timothy 5:2


a thread opens

Luke 14:26

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.

Deuteronomy 33:9

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

I Chronicles 17:17

And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O God; for you have also spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God.

from Deuteronomy 33:9

II Samuel 12:8

And I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given to you such and such things.

from I Chronicles 17:17

I Kings 2:22

And king Solomon answered and said to his mother, And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.

from II Samuel 12:8

I Chronicles 3:2

The third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur: the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith:

from I Kings 2:22

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from James 4:3 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