a thread opens
He looses the bond of kings, and girds their loins with a belt.
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.
O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, and the son of your maidservant: you have loosed my chains.
from Job 12:18
And of your mercy cut off my enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am your servant.
from Psalms 116:16 · a strong link
God shall likewise destroy you for ever, he shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.
from Psalms 143:12
I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
from Psalms 52:5 · a strong link
What time I am afraid, I will trust in you.
from Psalms 27:13 · a strong link
a thread opens
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
from I Corinthians 8:4
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel.
from I Timothy 2:5
And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Look, the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you concerning all these words.
from Hebrews 12:24
Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.
from Exodus 24:8
a thread opens
By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.
from Romans 5:8 · a strong link
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
from Romans 4:25
a thread opens
But the anointing which you have received of him remains in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall remain in him.
For we have not followed cleverly devised myths, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
from I John 2:27
But who can endure the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
from II Peter 1:16
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
from Malachi 3:2 · a strong link
And it shall happen in that day, I will hear, says the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
from Zechariah 13:9 · a strong link
For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.
from Hosea 2:21 · a strong link
Therefore the heaven over you is withheld from dew, and the earth is withheld from her fruit.
from Zechariah 8:12
a thread opens
And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, varieties of tongues.
Which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
from I Corinthians 12:28
But, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
from Ephesians 3:5 · a strong link
That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior:
from Jude 1:17 · a strong link
For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
from II Peter 3:2
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
from II Peter 2:21 · a strong link
a thread opens
I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy your people, who are present here, to offer willingly to you.
But the LORD said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not perishable, even the ornament of a gentle and quiet Spirit, who is in the sight of God of great price.
from I Samuel 16:7 · a strong link
For the LORD takes pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
from I Peter 3:4
Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: yes, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
from Psalms 149:4 · a strong link
a thread opens
Clean out therefore the old leaven, so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.
from I Corinthians 5:7
Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
from Exodus 13:6
You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning.
from Exodus 12:15
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Job 12:18 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