a thread opens
And said to the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are consumed with fire?
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.
And they said to me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.
from Nehemiah 2:3 · a strong link
And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls of Jerusalem around.
from Nehemiah 1:3 · a strong link
And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem around.
from II Kings 25:10
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.
And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Look, I am against you, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of you: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
from Leviticus 10:3
I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the pagans.
from Ezekiel 28:22
But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
from Ezekiel 20:41
And the four living creatures had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
from Isaiah 5:16
Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.
And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
from Ezekiel 10:21
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,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
from Ephesians 5:27 · a strong link
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
from Ephesians 1:4 · a strong link
And showing mercy to thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
from Romans 8:28 · a strong link
For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are in the distance, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
from Exodus 20:6 · a strong link
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.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
from Jude 1:11
Look Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?
What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, has found?
from I Corinthians 10:18
Therefore it is of faith, so that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
from Romans 4:1
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Surely his salvation is near them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
from Luke 2:14
For I, says the LORD, will be to her a wall of fire around, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
from Psalms 85:9 · a strong link
A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.
from Zechariah 2:5
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?
But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
from Luke 18:7
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
from Psalms 27:1 · a strong link
For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
from Romans 8:31 · a strong link
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
from Isaiah 50:7
In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them.
from Romans 1:16
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.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives to the death.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
from Revelation of John 12:11 · a strong link
You therefore endure hardship, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
from II Corinthians 10:3
And whether we be afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, which is effective in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your comfort and salvation.
from II Timothy 2:3
Who comforts us in all our tribulation, so that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God.
from II Corinthians 1:6
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Nehemiah 2:3 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