a thread opens
They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them to stagger like a drunken man.
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.
The earth shall reel back and forth like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and its transgression shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
from Job 12:25
Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
from Isaiah 24:20
Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
from Isaiah 29:9
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which have drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; you have drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
from Isaiah 51:21
Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double to her double according to her works: in the cup which she has filled fill to her double.
from Isaiah 51:17
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.
Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, and he that formed you from the womb, I am the LORD that makes all things; that stretches forth the heavens alone; that spreads abroad the earth by myself;
from I Corinthians 8:4
Doubtless you are our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: you, O LORD, are our father, our redeemer; your name is from everlasting.
from Isaiah 44:24
Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he your father that has bought you? has he not made you, and established you?
from Isaiah 63:16
Look, what kind of love the Father has bestowed upon us, so that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
from Deuteronomy 32:6
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.
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
from I Peter 1:19
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 this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
from I John 2:27
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall happen, that in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there it shall be said to them, You are the sons of the living God.
from Hebrews 8:10
And they shall bring all your brothers for an offering to the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.
from Hosea 1:10 · a strong link
But you are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering to that number.
from Isaiah 66:20
And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
from Isaiah 65:11
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
from Isaiah 1:28
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.
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.
from I Corinthians 12:28
Let the one who is taught in the word share with the one who teaches in all good things.
from I Timothy 5:17
Nor pouch for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet poles: for the workman is worthy of his food.
from Galatians 6:6
And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.
from Matthew 10:10
Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.
from Luke 10:7
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.
And you, Solomon my son, know you the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off for ever.
from I Chronicles 29:17 · a strong link
And the LORD said to Moses, Look, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and prostitute themselves after the gods of the strangers of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
from I Chronicles 28:9
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid to his fathers, and saw corruption:
from Deuteronomy 31:16
So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
from Acts 13:36 · 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:
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is mute, so he opens not his mouth.
from I Corinthians 5:7
But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered him, I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you be the Christ, the Son of God.
from Isaiah 53:7 · a strong link
Then came the Jews around him, and said to him, How long do you make us to doubt? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.
from Matthew 26:63
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Job 12:25 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