The Vigil

from Nehemiah 9:17

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 9:17

And refused to obey, neither were mindful of your wonders that you did among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsook them not.

Joel 2:13

And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn to the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repents him of the evil.

from Nehemiah 9:17

Jeremiah 18:7

At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

from Joel 2:13

Jeremiah 45:4

Thus shall you say to him, The LORD says thus; Look, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.

from Jeremiah 18:7


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

Psalms 39:1

To the director of music, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

from Job 2:10

James 1:26

If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

from Psalms 141:3 · a strong link

Proverbs 13:2

A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.

from James 1:26


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,

Ephesians 3:20

Now to him that is able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

from Jude 1:24 · a strong link

James 4:12

There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who are you that judge another?

from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link

Matthew 10:28

And do not fear them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

from James 4:12 · a strong link

II Thessalonians 1:8

In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

from Matthew 10:28 · 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.

Genesis 4:3

And in process of time it happened, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.

from Jude 1:11

Numbers 18:12

All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer to the LORD, them have I given you.

from Genesis 4:3

Exodus 34:26

The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.

from Numbers 18:12

Deuteronomy 14:21

You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you shall give it to the stranger in your gates, so that he may eat it; or you may sell it to an alien: for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.

from Exodus 34:26


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

II Peter 1:16

For we have not followed cleverly devised myths, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

from John 1:14


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 88:9

My eye mourns by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon you, I have stretched out my hands to you.

from Psalms 86:3

Psalms 38:10

My heart pants, my strength fails me: as for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.

from Psalms 88:9

Psalms 6:7

My eye is consumed because of grief; it grows old because of all my enemies.

from Psalms 38:10 · a strong link


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.

Revelation of John 12:11

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

Jeremiah 1:10

See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

from II Corinthians 10:4 · a strong link

Jeremiah 31:4

Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall again be adorned with your tabrets, and shall go forth in the dances of them that celebrate.

from Jeremiah 1:10

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Nehemiah 9:17 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