The Vigil

from Jeremiah 38:10

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

Jeremiah 38:10

Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.

Esther 5:2

And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the scepter.

from Jeremiah 38:10

Esther 4:11

All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whoever, whether man or woman, shall come to the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.

from Esther 5:2 · a strong link

Esther 5:1

Now it happened on the third day, that Esther put on her royal robes, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, opposite the king’s house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, opposite the gate of the house.

from Esther 4:11 · a strong link

Esther 6:4

And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman had come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak to the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

from Esther 5:1 · a strong link


a thread opens

Acts 20:21

Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 4:17

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

from Acts 20:21

Job 30:19

He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

from Job 42:6

Job 9:31

Yet shall you plunge me in the ditch, and my own clothes shall abhor me.

from Job 30:19


a thread opens

Acts 13:38

Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:

II Corinthians 5:18

And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

from Acts 13:38

Colossians 1:20

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 II Corinthians 5:18

Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: look, your King comes to you: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon a donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey.

from Colossians 1:20

John 12:15

Do not fear, daughter of Zion: look, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt.

from Matthew 21:4

Zephaniah 3:16

In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear not: and to Zion, Let not your hands be slack.

from John 12:15


a thread opens

Acts 17:31

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.

Psalms 98:9

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

Psalms 96:10

Say among the pagans that the LORD reigns: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.

from Psalms 98:9

Psalms 9:8

And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.

from Psalms 96:10


a thread opens

Acts 4:27

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,

Matthew 27:2

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

Matthew 20:19

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

Matthew 27:27

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered to him the whole band of soldiers.

from Matthew 20:19

Acts 10:1

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,

from Matthew 27:27


a thread opens

Acts 7:51

You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.

Deuteronomy 31:27

For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck: look, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?

from Acts 7:51

Deuteronomy 32:20

And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faith.

from Deuteronomy 31:27

Matthew 17:17

Then Jesus answered, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him here to me.

from Deuteronomy 32:5

Matthew 6:30

Why, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe yourselves, O you of little faith?

from Matthew 17:17


a thread opens

Acts 22:21

And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.

Acts 9:15

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

Acts 13:2

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

Romans 1:1

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God,

from Acts 13:2

Romans 1:9

For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

from Romans 1:1 · a strong link

II Timothy 1:3

I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of you in my prayers night and day;

from Romans 1:9 · a strong link

Romans 1:8

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

from II Timothy 1:3 · a strong link

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Jeremiah 38:10 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