a thread opens
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
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.
No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone to pledge: for he takes a man’s life to pledge.
from Job 24:3
When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by forcing an axe against them: for you may eat of them, and you shall not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man’s life) to employ them in the siege:
from Deuteronomy 24:6
And the Egyptians evil treated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:
from Deuteronomy 20:19
And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, in which they made them serve, was with harshness.
from Deuteronomy 26:6
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
from Acts 20:21
But showed first to them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, so that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.
from Matthew 4:17
Repent you therefore, and be converted, so that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
from Acts 26:20 · a strong link
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
from Acts 3:19
Now be not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, so that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.
from James 4:7
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
from Acts 13:38
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
from I John 2:12
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before you.
from Luke 24:47
All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord; and shall glorify your name.
from Psalms 22:27 · a strong link
And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.
from Psalms 86:9
Therefore will I give thanks to you, O LORD, among the pagans, and sing praises to your name.
from Romans 15:9 · 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.
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
from Acts 17:31
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
from Matthew 25:31
Now we beg you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together to him,
from I Thessalonians 4:16
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
I give you charge in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
from Matthew 27:2
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 Timothy 6:13
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
from Revelation of John 1:5 · 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.
Circumcise therefore your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
from Acts 7:51 · a strong link
O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, so that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you?
from Deuteronomy 10:16
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
from Jeremiah 4:14 · a strong link
The LORD is near to all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
from James 4:8 · a strong link
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
from Psalms 145:18 · 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
At my first defense no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
from Acts 9:15
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
from II Timothy 4:16 · a strong link
After that, he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at once; of whom the greater part remain to this present, but some have fallen asleep.
from Acts 7:60
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
from I Corinthians 15:6
And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead; and he goes before you into Galilee; there shall you see him: look, I have told you.
from Matthew 28:16 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Job 24:3 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