a thread opens
From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go to war in Israel: you and Aaron shall number them by their armies.
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.
Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have grumbled against me,
from Numbers 1:3
But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
from Numbers 14:29
Say to them, As truly as I live, says the LORD, as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you:
from I Corinthians 10:5
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 let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.
from Leviticus 10:3
And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.
from Exodus 19:22
And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
from Exodus 24:5
And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.
from Exodus 18:12
And you shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the LORD your God.
from Deuteronomy 12:7
A Psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all you lands.
from Deuteronomy 27:7
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 to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
from Jude 1:24
But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil.
from Romans 16:25
And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
from II Thessalonians 3:3
There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.
from Luke 11:4
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often.
from I Corinthians 10:13
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.
Which have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when you came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
from II Peter 2:15
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.
from Deuteronomy 23:4
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
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.
from Luke 2:14
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 John 17:4
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
from Acts 20:24
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
But I would have you without anxiety. He that is unmarried cares for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
from I Timothy 5:5
Cast your burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain you: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
from I Corinthians 7:32
He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.
from Psalms 55:22 · a strong link
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
from Psalms 62:2 · a strong link
In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
from Psalms 18:2
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.
Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end;
from Philippians 3:8
And if some of the branches be broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
from Hebrews 3:14
Therefore say I to you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth its fruits.
from Romans 11:17
And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.
from Matthew 21:43
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Numbers 1:3 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