a thread opens
Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of bronze?
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.
His bones are as strong pieces of bronze; his bones are like bars of iron.
from Job 6:12
Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you set a watch over me?
from Job 40:18
Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him, You are like a young lion of the nations, and you are as a monster in the seas: and you came forth with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.
from Job 7:12
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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 in very deed for this cause have I raised you up, to show in you my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
from Exodus 14:4
And I, look, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
from Exodus 9:16
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with a high hand.
from Exodus 14:17
The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm he brought them out of it.
from Exodus 14:8 · a strong link
For you are a holy people to the LORD your God: the LORD your God has chosen you to be a special people to himself, above all people upon the face of the earth.
from Acts 13:17 · a strong link
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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
The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
from Revelation of John 14:5 · a strong link
And I will make her who limped a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from now on, even for ever.
from Zephaniah 3:13
And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that does not wait for man, nor waits for the sons of men.
from Micah 4:7 · a strong link
For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring:
from Micah 5:7
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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.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
from Jude 1:11
However I have a few things against you, because you suffer that woman Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
from Revelation of John 2:14 · a strong link
But that we write to them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from sexual immorality, and from things strangled, and from blood.
As for the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from sexual immorality.
from Acts 15:20
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Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
from Luke 1:79
Then spoke Jesus again to them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
from John 9:5 · a strong link
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And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to repay with affliction those who afflict you;
from Luke 18:7
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
from II Thessalonians 1:6
Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?
from Revelation of John 6:10 · a strong link
O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme your name for ever?
from Zechariah 1:12
How long, LORD? will you hide yourself for ever? shall your wrath burn like fire?
from Psalms 74:10
How long, LORD? will you be angry for ever? shall your jealousy burn like fire?
from Psalms 89:46 · a strong link
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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.
Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men.
from Philippians 3:8
Partly, while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, while you became companions of them that were so used.
from I Corinthians 4:9 · a strong link
For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
from Hebrews 10:33
For truly, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it happened, and you know.
from I Thessalonians 2:14 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Job 6:12 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