The Vigil

from Nehemiah 11:9

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 11:9

And Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer: and Judah the son of Senuah was second over the city.

Nehemiah 8:4

And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

from I Chronicles 9:7


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.

Job 2:10

But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

from Psalms 39:9 · a strong link

James 3:2

For in many things we all stumble. If any man does not stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

from Job 2:10

I Peter 3:10

For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:

from James 3:2 · a strong link

Psalms 34:12

What man is he that desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?

from I Peter 3:10 · a strong link

Deuteronomy 30:20

That you may love the LORD your God, and that you may obey his voice, and that you may cling to him: for he is your life, and the length of your days: that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

from Psalms 34:12


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,

John 10:29

My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

from Jude 1:24

John 6:37

All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out.

from John 10:29

John 17:6

I have manifested your name to the men which you gave me out of the world: yours they were, and you gave them me; and they have kept your word.

from John 6:37

Psalms 22:22

I will declare your name to my brothers: in the midst of the congregation will I praise you.

from John 17:6

Matthew 28:10

Then Jesus said to them, Be not afraid: go tell my brothers that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

from Psalms 22:22


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.

I John 3:12

Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

from Jude 1:11 · a strong link

Hebrews 11:4

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.

from I John 3:12 · a strong link

Matthew 23:35

That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar.

from Hebrews 11:4 · a strong link


a thread opens

Luke 2:14

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

Luke 1:79

To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

from Luke 2:14 · a strong link

Matthew 4:16

The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

from Luke 1:79 · a strong link

Amos 5:8

Seek him that makes the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night: that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:

from Matthew 4:16


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 51:14

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, you God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

from Psalms 88:1

Romans 2:8

But to them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

from Psalms 9:17


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.

Acts 20:24

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 Luke 14:26 · a strong link

Galatians 1:1

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

Ephesians 3:8

To me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, so that I should preach among the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ;

from Galatians 1:1

Ephesians 3:16

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

from Ephesians 3:8

Isaiah 40:29

He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength.

from Ephesians 3:16 · a strong link

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Nehemiah 11:9 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