a thread opens
My eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the nursing infants swoon in the streets of the city.
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.
Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labor not to comfort me, because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.
from Lamentations 2:11
Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the jackals, and mourning as the owls.
from Isaiah 22:4
At the same time spoke the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off your loins, and put off your shoe from your foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
from Micah 1:8
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
No but, O man, who are you that reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?
from II Samuel 16:10
Why do you strive against him? for he gives not account of any of his matters.
from Romans 9:20 · a strong link
Shall he that contends with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproves God, let him answer it.
from Job 33:13 · a strong link
Woe to him that strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, What do you make? or your work, He has no hands?
from Job 40:2
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 to him that is able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who are you that judge another?
from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link
Who are you that judge another man’s servant? to his own master he stands or falls. Yes, he shall be held up: for God is able to make him stand.
from James 4:12 · a strong link
For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judges me is the Lord.
from Romans 14:4
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.
from I Corinthians 4:4
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.
And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the LORD:
from Jude 1:11
These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.
from Numbers 26:9 · a strong link
And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
from Numbers 1:16 · a strong link
So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.
from Exodus 18:25 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
from Luke 2:14
Saying, Blessed be the King that comes in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
from Romans 5:1
Look, your house is left to you desolate: and truly I say to you, You shall not see me, until the time come when you shall say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.
from Luke 19:38 · 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?
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness; but is patience toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
from Luke 18:7
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
from II Peter 3:9 · a strong link
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
from I Timothy 2:4
How can you believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that comes from God only?
from II Timothy 3:7
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
from John 5:44 · a strong link
And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge you, who by the letter and circumcision do transgress the law?
from Romans 2:29
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.
Who said to his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brothers, nor knew his own children: for they have observed your word, and kept your covenant.
from Luke 14:26
And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked to their shame among their enemies:)
from Deuteronomy 33:9
Pass you away, you inhabitant of Saphir, having your shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel; he shall receive of you his standing.
from Exodus 32:25
So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
from Micah 1:11
Therefore will I discover your skirts upon your face, that your shame may appear.
from Isaiah 20:4
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Lamentations 2:11 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