The Vigil

from Nehemiah 1:9

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.

a thread opens

Nehemiah 1:9

But if you turn to me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out to the farthest part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

Deuteronomy 30:3

That then the LORD your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will return and gather you from all the nations, where the LORD your God has scattered you.

from Psalms 147:2 · a strong link

Ezekiel 34:12

As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

from Deuteronomy 30:3


a thread opens

Leviticus 10:3

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.

Leviticus 21:6

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

Leviticus 3:11

And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD.

from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link

Ezekiel 44:7

In that you have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.

from Leviticus 3:11

Jeremiah 4:4

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

from Ezekiel 44:7

Deuteronomy 9:6

Understand therefore, that the LORD your God gives you not this good land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.

from Deuteronomy 10:16


a thread opens

Jude 1:24

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,

I Peter 4:13

But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.

from Jude 1:24

I Peter 1:5

Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

from I Peter 4:13

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

from I Peter 1:5 · a strong link

John 1:12

But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

from Ephesians 2:8 · a strong link

John 1:7

The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, so that all men through him might believe.

from John 1:12 · a strong link


a thread opens

Jude 1:11

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.

Isaiah 3:9

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

Genesis 13:13

But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

from Isaiah 3:9 · a strong link

Genesis 18:20

And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

from Genesis 13:13

Genesis 19:13

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

Luke 2:14

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Psalms 85:9

Surely his salvation is near them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.

from Luke 2:14

John 1:14

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

from Psalms 85:9

John 6:51

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

from John 1:14 · a strong link


a thread opens

Luke 18:7

And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?

Psalms 88:1

A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the director of music upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you:

from Luke 18:7 · a strong link

Psalms 22:2

O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you hear not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

from Psalms 88:1 · a strong link

Psalms 42:3

My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, Where is your God?

from Psalms 22:2

Psalms 80:5

You feed them with the bread of tears; and give them tears to drink in great measure.

from Psalms 42:3 · a strong link

Isaiah 30:20

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not your teachers be removed into a corner any more, but your eyes shall see your teachers:

from Psalms 80:5 · a strong link

Psalms 127:2

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he gives his beloved sleep.

from Isaiah 30:20


a thread opens

Luke 14:26

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.

Matthew 10:37

He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

from Luke 14:26 · a strong link

Philippians 3:8

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 Philippians 3:7

I John 5:20

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

from Philippians 3:8

I John 5:11

And this is the testimony, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

from I John 5:20

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Nehemiah 1:9 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