a thread opens
Look, your people in the midst of you are women: the gates of your land shall be set wide open to your enemies: the fire shall devour your bars.
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.
The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might has failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken.
from Nahum 3:13 · a strong link
I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holds the scepter from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir, says the LORD.
from Jeremiah 51:30
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.
from Amos 1:5
Look, the days come, says the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
from Lamentations 2:9
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
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 Acts 20:21
Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
from Acts 20:24 · a strong link
I am he that lives, and was dead; and I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
from Galatians 1:1
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
And the sea gave up the dead in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
from Acts 13:38
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
from I John 2:12
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in me.
from Luke 24:47
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
from Acts 26:18
Not in passionate lust, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
from Ephesians 4:18 · a strong link
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men everywhere to repent:
from I Thessalonians 4:5
a thread opens
Because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved to fire for the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
from Acts 17:31
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a roar, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works in it shall be burned up.
from II Peter 3:7 · a strong link
Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD comes, for it is near at hand;
from II Peter 3:10
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For truly against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
By stretching forth your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of your holy child Jesus.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
from Acts 4:30
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
from Acts 3:6 · a strong link
You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
from Acts 10:38
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You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.
And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke.
from Acts 7:51
For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
from Acts 6:10
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
from Luke 21:15
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
from Acts 4:8
For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
from Acts 2:4
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And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
from Acts 22:21 · a strong link
Of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power.
from Acts 9:15 · a strong link
If you have heard of the administration of the grace of God which is given me toward you:
from Ephesians 3:7
Of which I am made a minister, according to the administration of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God;
from Ephesians 3:2
If you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature under heaven; of which I Paul am made a minister;
from Colossians 1:25
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue in my love.
from Colossians 1:23
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Nahum 3:13 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