a thread opens
If I am wicked, why then labor I in vain?
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.
Yet you say, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Look, I will plead with you, because you say, I have not sinned.
from Job 9:29
He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.
from Jeremiah 2:35
When I kept silence, my bones grew old through my roaring all the day long.
from Proverbs 28:13 · a strong link
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.
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
from Leviticus 10:3
And you shall not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
And you shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
from Leviticus 18:21 · a strong link
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.
from Leviticus 19:12
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.
from Deuteronomy 5:11
Offer to God thanksgiving; and pay your vows to the most High:
from Exodus 20:7
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,
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
from Jude 1:24
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
from Hebrews 13:20
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
from Hebrews 10:22 · a strong link
And you, Solomon my son, know you the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off for ever.
from James 4:8
And Solomon said, You have shown to your servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you; and you have kept for him this great kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
from I Chronicles 28:9
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.
Which have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
Look, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.
from II Peter 2:15
Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the LORD your God has destroyed them from among you.
from Numbers 31:16
And Israel remained in Acacia, and the people began to commit prostitution with the daughters of Moab.
from Deuteronomy 4:3
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
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and breathed his last.
from John 17:4
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
from John 19:30 · 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?
But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
from Luke 18:7
For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
Say to God, How terrible are you in your works! through the greatness of your power shall your enemies submit themselves to you.
from Psalms 47:2
By terrible things in righteousness will you answer us, O God of our salvation; who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are in the distance upon the sea:
from Psalms 66:3 · a strong link
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 Psalms 65:5
Ask of me, and I shall give you the pagans for your inheritance, and the farthest parts of the earth for your possession.
from Psalms 22:27 · a strong link
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.
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
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
from Philippians 3:8
So likewise, whoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.
from Philippians 3:7 · a strong link
And when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all, and followed him.
from Luke 14:33
And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
from Luke 5:11
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Job 9:29 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