a thread opens
And the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, Go with the men: but only the word that I shall speak to you, that you shall speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
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.
Have you not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, so that you should be to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
from Numbers 22:35
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
from Isaiah 37:26
And truly the Son of man goes, as it was determined: but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!
from Acts 2:23 · a strong link
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 said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
from Leviticus 10:3
Sing, O you heavens; for the LORD has done it: shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it: for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
from Isaiah 49:3 · a strong link
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and its fullness.
from Isaiah 44:23
Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moves in it.
from Psalms 96:11
For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
from Psalms 69:34
The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with grain; they shout for joy, they also sing.
from Isaiah 55:12
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 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
To which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
from Colossians 1:29 · a strong link
By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain.
from I Corinthians 15:10
For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
from I Corinthians 15:2
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.
The look on their faces bears witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe to their soul! for they have rewarded evil to themselves.
from Jude 1:11
But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
from Isaiah 3:9 · a strong link
And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
from Genesis 13:13
For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is grown great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.
from Genesis 18:20
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
I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation will not delay: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
from Psalms 85:9 · a strong link
My righteousness is near; my salvation has gone forth, and my arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on my arm shall they trust.
from Isaiah 46:13
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?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.
from Luke 18:7
He is near that justifies me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is my adversary? let him come near to me.
from Romans 8:33 · a strong link
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
from Isaiah 50:8
For if God spared not the natural branches, watch out lest he also spare not you.
from Romans 8:32
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved to judgment;
from Romans 11:21
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
from II Peter 2:4
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.
Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside you.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
from Psalms 73:25
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
from Matthew 5:8
For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
from Hebrews 9:14 · a strong link
Since therefore Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin;
from I Peter 3:18 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Numbers 22:35 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