a thread opens
The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might has failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken.
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.
Look, your people in the midst of you are women: the gates of your land shall be set wide open to your enemies: the fire shall devour your bars.
from Jeremiah 51:30 · a strong link
In that day shall Egypt be like to women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shakes over it.
from Nahum 3:13 · a strong link
Yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
from Isaiah 19:16
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.
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 10:3
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
But you have profaned it, in that you say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and its fruit, even his food, is contemptible.
from Leviticus 18:21
You said also, Look, what a weariness is it! and you have sniffed at it, says the LORD of hosts; and you brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus you brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? says the LORD.
from Malachi 1:12
O my people, what have I done to you? and how have I wearied you? testify against me.
from Malachi 1:13
Thus says the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and have become vain?
from Micah 6:3 · 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,
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
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 II Corinthians 4:14
You are all fair, my love; there is no spot in you.
from Ephesians 5:27
Look, you are fair, my love; look, you are fair; you have doves’ eyes.
from Song of Solomon 4:7
Look, you are fair, my love; look, you are fair; you have doves’ eyes within your locks: your hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.
from Song of Solomon 1:15 · 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.
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
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
The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the weeds are the children of the wicked one;
from Acts 13:10 · a strong link
When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, then comes the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed along the path.
from Matthew 13:38
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
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 Luke 2:14 · a strong link
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away are made near by the blood of Christ.
from Colossians 1:20
Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
from Ephesians 2:13
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?
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness; but is patience toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
from Luke 18:7
What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
from II Peter 3:9
For certain people have crept in unnoticed, who were long ago designated for this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into sensuality, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
from Romans 9:22 · a strong link
When the waves of death surrounded me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;
from Jude 1:4
Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
from II Samuel 22:5
Send your hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;
from Psalms 69:14 · a strong link
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.
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 charge you before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that you observe these things without favoritism, doing nothing by partiality.
from Deuteronomy 33:9
I give you charge in the sight of God, who quickens all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
from I Timothy 5:21 · a strong link
And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Are you the King of the Jews? And Jesus said to him, You say.
from I Timothy 6:13 · a strong link
And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.
from Matthew 27:11
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Jeremiah 51:30 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