a thread opens
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
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.
If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.
from Job 3:16
Yes, better is he than both they, which has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
from Ecclesiastes 6:3 · a strong link
For, look, the days are coming, in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the paps which never gave suck.
from Ecclesiastes 4:3
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 said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
from Leviticus 10:3
Look, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
from Isaiah 49:3
Who being the radiance of his glory, and the exact imprint of his nature, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself made purification for our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
from Isaiah 52:13
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
from Hebrews 1:3 · a strong link
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 Hebrews 10:12
Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
from Hebrews 9:12
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,
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
from Jude 1:24
As you have given him power over all flesh, so that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.
from John 10:29
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.
from John 17:2
For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son:
from Matthew 28:18
And Jesus said, For judgment I have come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
from John 5:22 · a strong link
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.
Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
from Jude 1:11
And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri.
from Numbers 16:1
The son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah,
from Exodus 6:21
To the director of music, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. LORD, you have been favorable to your land: you have brought back the captivity of Jacob.
from I Chronicles 6:37
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
from Colossians 1:20 · a strong link
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
from II Corinthians 5:18
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?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.
from Luke 18:7
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
from Romans 8:33
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
from Romans 8:1 · a strong link
And will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.
from Romans 8:14 · a strong link
He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
from II Corinthians 6:18 · a strong link
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:
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.
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 Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Then Paul answered, What mean you to weep and to break my heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
from Acts 20:24 · a strong link
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
from Acts 21:13
Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
from II Timothy 4:6 · a strong link
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.
from Philippians 2:17
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Job 3:16 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