a thread opens
God brought him forth out of Egypt; he has as it were the strength of a wild ox: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.
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.
Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria has devoured him; and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.
from Numbers 24:8
My people has been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
from Jeremiah 50:17
I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
from Jeremiah 50:6
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
But you have profaned it, in that you say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and its fruit, even his food, is contemptible.
from Leviticus 18:21
For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
from Malachi 1:12
All that pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
from Romans 2:24
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,
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight:
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
By which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
from Colossians 1:22
Since therefore the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
from Hebrews 10:10
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
from Hebrews 2:14 · a strong link
For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
from Romans 8:3
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
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral people, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
For this you know, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor greedy man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
from Revelation of John 21:8 · a strong link
But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness, or greed, must not even be named among you, as becomes saints;
from Ephesians 5:5
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and its fullness.
from Luke 2:14
The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be its glad.
from Psalms 96:11
The LORD reigns; let the people tremble: he sits between the cherubim; let the earth be moved.
from Psalms 97:1
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?
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to repay with affliction those who afflict you;
from Luke 18:7
If I sharpen my glittering sword, and my hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to my enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
from II Thessalonians 1:6
For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: look, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
from Deuteronomy 32:41
For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, so that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
from Isaiah 34:5
Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
from Jeremiah 46:10 · a strong link
The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hastens greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
from Joel 1:15
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.
He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
from Matthew 10:37 · a strong link
Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
from Philippians 3:7
Therefore I love your commandments above gold; yes, above fine gold.
from Proverbs 23:23
More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
from Psalms 119:127
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Numbers 24:8 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