a thread opens
I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
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 now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.
from Job 23:4
I know it is so truly: but how should man be just with God?
from Job 13:18
How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
from Job 9:2
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.
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
from Leviticus 10:3
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
from Exodus 14:4 · a strong link
And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.
from Exodus 7:5 · a strong link
Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
from Exodus 8:22
And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No.
from Ezekiel 30:19
Marvelous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
from Ezekiel 30:14
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,
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
from Jude 1:24
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.
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have betrothed you to one husband, so that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
from Ephesians 5:27 · a strong link
For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
from II Corinthians 11:2
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD your God which teaches you to profit, which leads you by the way that you should go.
from Isaiah 54:5
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.
The look on their faces bears witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe to their soul! for they have rewarded evil to themselves.
from Jude 1:11
But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
from Isaiah 3:9 · a strong link
And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
from Genesis 13:13
For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is grown great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.
from Genesis 18:20
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.
from Luke 2:14
And whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
from John 17:4
If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you.
from John 14:13 · a strong link
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
And I gave her space to repent of her sexual immorality; and she repented not.
from II Peter 3:9
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which has power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for its plague was exceedingly great.
from Revelation of John 16:9 · a strong link
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and a third of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
And his tail drew a third of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as it was born.
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
But as we were approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which tries our hearts.
from Deuteronomy 33:9
And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
from I Thessalonians 2:4
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
from Romans 8:27
For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judges me is the Lord.
from I John 3:21
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Job 23:4 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