a thread opens
Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, so that he should curse them: however our God turned the curse into a blessing.
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.
Nevertheless the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because the LORD your God loved you.
from Nehemiah 13:2
The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all people:
from Deuteronomy 23:5 · a strong link
Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of heaven for multitude.
from Deuteronomy 7:7
And those that were numbered of them were twenty-three thousand, all males from a month old and upward: for they were not numbered among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel.
from Deuteronomy 10:22
All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand.
from Numbers 26:62 · a strong link
a thread opens
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
from I Corinthians 8:4
Have we not all one father? has not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
from Ephesians 4:6
You do the deeds of your father. Then they said to him, We be not born of sexual immorality; we have one Father, even God.
from Malachi 2:10
You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and remained not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
from John 8:41
a thread opens
By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
from John 3:16 · a strong link
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
from John 11:25
a thread opens
But the anointing which you have received of him remains in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall remain in him.
Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it remain in the vine; no more can you, except you remain in me.
from I John 2:27
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 John 15:4
As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel.
from Colossians 1:23
The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.
from Psalms 125:5
Take heed, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
from Proverbs 14:14
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
from Hebrews 3:12 · a strong link
a thread opens
And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, varieties of tongues.
Greet all your leaders, and all the saints. They of Italy greet you.
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
Remember your leaders, who have spoken to you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conduct.
from Hebrews 13:24 · a strong link
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
from Hebrews 13:7
The sower sows the word.
from Luke 8:11
And immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word to them.
from Mark 4:14
a thread opens
I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy your people, who are present here, to offer willingly to you.
And you, Solomon my son, know you the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off for ever.
from I Chronicles 29:17 · a strong link
If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
from I Chronicles 28:9
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people: and walk you in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well to you.
from Job 36:11
Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you; that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
from Jeremiah 7:23
a thread opens
Clean out therefore the old leaven, so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;
from I Corinthians 5:7
Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
from I Corinthians 15:3 · a strong link
That the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
from Isaiah 53:1 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Nehemiah 13:2 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