a thread opens
And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant.
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 he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great has fallen, has fallen, and has become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
from Jeremiah 51:37
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon has fallen, has fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.
from Revelation of John 18:2 · a strong link
And indeed, here comes a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered, Babylon has fallen, has fallen; and all the carved images of her gods he has broken to the ground.
from Revelation of John 14:8 · a strong link
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if perhaps she may be healed.
from Isaiah 21:9 · 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.
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
from Acts 20:21
Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
from Acts 20:24 · a strong link
And he said, The God of our fathers has chosen you, that you should know his will, and see that Just One, and should hear the voice of his mouth.
from Galatians 1:1
For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
from Acts 22:14
To reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach him among the pagans; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
from Galatians 1:12
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
from Acts 13:38
Then said Paul, John truly baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
from Acts 2:38 · a strong link
The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, so that all men through him might believe.
from Acts 19:4
But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
from John 1:7
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
from John 1:12 · a strong link
Come near to me, hear this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, has sent me.
from Romans 8:14 · a strong link
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, for he comes to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
from Acts 17:31
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
And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
from Revelation of John 19:11 · 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
There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
from Matthew 27:2
For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
from Luke 13:1
Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men who were before the house.
from I Peter 4:17 · a strong link
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.
And the LORD said to Moses, I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stiff-necked people:
from Acts 7:51 · a strong link
Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze;
from Exodus 32:9 · a strong link
To a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of you; for you are a stiff-necked people: lest I consume you in the way.
from Isaiah 48:4
And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good land and a large, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
from Exodus 33:3 · a strong link
And Joseph said to his brothers, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
from Exodus 3:8 · a strong link
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
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 Acts 9:15 · a strong link
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
from Ephesians 3:7
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 Timothy 1:14
As newborn infants, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby:
from I Peter 1:3
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
from I Peter 2:2
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Jeremiah 51:37 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