a thread opens
How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD has not defied?
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 God said to Balaam, You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people: for they are blessed.
from Numbers 23:8
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing:
from Numbers 22:12
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you are able to number them: and he said to him, So shall your seed be.
from Genesis 12:2
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.
No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
from Leviticus 10:3
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
from Leviticus 21:21
And you shall not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
from Leviticus 18:21
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
from I Kings 11:33
And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
from I Kings 11:5 · a strong link
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,
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
from Jude 1:24
You have heard how I said to you, I go away, and come again to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go to the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
from John 10:29 · a strong link
A little while, and you shall not see me: and again, a little while, and you shall see me, because I go to the Father.
from John 14:28
And you now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you.
from John 16:16
And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Spirit.
from John 16:22
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.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.
from I John 3:12 · a strong link
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
from Hebrews 11:4
He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifices a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offers an offering, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burns incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.
from Proverbs 15:8
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
from Luke 2:14
For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the dividing wall between us;
from Romans 5:1
Having abolished in his flesh the hostility, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace;
from Ephesians 2:14 · a strong link
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
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
from Romans 8:33
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
from Romans 8:1
And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
from Romans 8:39
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
from John 10:28
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
from Romans 5:9 · a strong link
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
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
from Philippians 3:8
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God perhaps will give them repentance to the knowledge of the truth;
from Ephesians 1:17
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
from II Timothy 2:25
A scorner seeks wisdom, and finds it not: but knowledge is easy to him that understands.
from II Timothy 3:7
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Numbers 23:8 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