a thread opens
I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to owls.
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.
I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.
from Job 30:29
And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work.
from Psalms 102:6
That says, I will build me a wide house and large rooms, and cuts him out windows; and it is paneled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
from Zephaniah 2:14
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.
I was mute, I opened not my mouth; because you did it.
from Leviticus 10:3
And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD has said to him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Why have you done so?
from Psalms 39:9
And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me: the LORD shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.
from II Samuel 16:10
Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the LORD.
from II Samuel 3:39
And the LORD shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not its knowing, namely, Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.
from I Kings 2:33
But have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, like to the prostitution of the house of Ahab, and also have slain your brothers of your father’s house, which were better than yourself:
from I Kings 2:32 · a strong link
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 the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
from Jude 1:24
For the LORD loves judgment, and forsakes not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.
from II Timothy 4:18
But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
from Psalms 37:28 · 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 Proverbs 2:22
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
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.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and its fullness.
from Luke 2:14
The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be its glad.
from Psalms 96:11
The LORD reigns; let the people tremble: he sits between the cherubim; let the earth be moved.
from Psalms 97:1
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?
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
from Luke 18:7
For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands:
from I Timothy 5:5
The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
from I Peter 3:5
Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
from Titus 2:3 · a strong link
In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with modesty and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or expensive clothes;
from I Peter 3:3
Moreover the LORD says, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
from I Timothy 2:9
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.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives to the death.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith:
Brothers, I count not myself to have taken hold: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things behind, and straining forward to those things before,
from II Timothy 4:7
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to see the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.
from Philippians 3:13
And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
from Psalms 27:4 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Job 30:29 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