a thread opens
And the residue of Israel, of the priests, and the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, every one in his inheritance.
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.
Now these are the chief of the province that dwelt in Jerusalem: but in the cities of Judah dwelt every one in his possession in their cities, namely, Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the temple servants, and the children of Solomon’s servants.
from Nehemiah 11:20
Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and came again to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his city;
from Nehemiah 11:3
Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away.
from Ezra 2:1
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.
Speak to Aaron, saying, Whoever he be of your seed in their generations that has any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
from Leviticus 10:3
Blessed is the man whom you choose, and cause to approach to you, so that he may dwell in your courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, even of your holy temple.
from Leviticus 21:17
Him that overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
from Psalms 65:4
And he set up the pillars in the portico of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz.
And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.
from I Kings 7:21 · a strong link
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
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
from Hebrews 13:20 · a strong link
Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live to righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.
from John 10:11
He shall see of the toil of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
from I Peter 2:24 · a strong link
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
from Isaiah 53:11
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.
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
But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
from Isaiah 3:9 · a strong link
And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
from Genesis 13:13
And he said, What have you done? the voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.
from Genesis 18:20
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
from Luke 2:14
But to the Son he says, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
from Isaiah 9:6
Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
from Hebrews 1:8
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?
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
from Luke 18:7
If any man or woman that believes have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
from I Timothy 5:5
Honor widows that are widows indeed.
from I Timothy 5:16 · a strong link
He does execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger, in giving him food and apparel.
from I Timothy 5:3
The LORD preserves the strangers; he relieves the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.
from Deuteronomy 10:18 · a strong link
Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in me.
from Psalms 146:9
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.
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
For the love of Christ compels us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
from Matthew 10:37
But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded to many.
from II Corinthians 5:14
And this is the testimony, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
from Romans 5:15
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
from I John 5:11 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Nehemiah 11:20 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