The Vigil

from Numbers 31:17

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

Numbers 31:17

Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that has known man by lying with him.

Deuteronomy 20:16

But of the cities of these people, who the LORD your God does give you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes:

from Numbers 31:17

Deuteronomy 7:1

When the LORD your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you;

from Deuteronomy 20:16

Psalms 44:2

How you did drive out the pagans with your hand, and planted them; how you did afflict the people, and cast them out.

from Deuteronomy 7:1

Psalms 78:55

He cast out the pagans also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

from Psalms 44:2 · a strong link


a thread opens

Acts 20:21

Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 12:45

Then he went, and took with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also to this wicked generation.

from Luke 13:3

Mark 5:9

And he asked him, What is your name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

from Matthew 12:45

Matthew 26:53

Do you think that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

from Mark 5:9

Daniel 7:10

A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

from Matthew 26:53


a thread opens

Acts 13:38

Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:

Acts 5:31

Him has God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

from Acts 13:38

Acts 2:33

Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has shed forth this, which you now see and hear.

from Acts 5:31 · a strong link

Acts 1:4

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, he says, you have heard of me.

from Acts 2:33 · a strong link

Luke 24:49

And I send the promise of my Father upon you: but stay you in the city of Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on high.

from Acts 1:4 · a strong link

Isaiah 59:20

And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to them that turn from transgression in Jacob, says the LORD.

from Luke 24:49

Romans 11:26

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

from Isaiah 59:20 · a strong link


a thread opens

Acts 17:31

Because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.

II Peter 3:7

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved to fire for the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

from Acts 17:31

II Peter 3:12

Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

from II Peter 3:7 · a strong link

Isaiah 64:1

Oh that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might flow down at your presence,

from II Peter 3:12


a thread opens

Acts 4:27

For truly against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

Acts 4:30

By stretching forth your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of your holy child Jesus.

from Acts 4:27 · a strong link

Acts 3:6

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

from Acts 4:30

Acts 2:36

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

from Acts 3:6

II Corinthians 5:10

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.

from Acts 2:36


a thread opens

Acts 7:51

You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.

Exodus 33:5

For the LORD had said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff-necked people: I will come up into the midst of you in a moment, and consume you: therefore now put off your ornaments from you, so that I may know what to do to you.

from Acts 7:51 · a strong link

Genesis 18:21

I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which has come to me; and if not, I will know.

from Exodus 33:5

Genesis 11:7

Go to, let us go down, and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.

from Genesis 18:21

Genesis 1:26

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping creature that creeps upon the earth.

from Genesis 11:7 · a strong link

Isaiah 64:8

But now, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.

from Genesis 1:26 · a strong link


a thread opens

Acts 22:21

And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.

Acts 9:15

But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

from Acts 22:21 · a strong link

Acts 13:2

As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

from Acts 9:15 · a strong link

II Timothy 1:11

To which I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

from Acts 13:2 · a strong link

I Timothy 2:7

To which I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

from II Timothy 1:11 · a strong link

Romans 9:1

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,

from I Timothy 2:7

Romans 8:16

The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

from Romans 9:1

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Numbers 31:17 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