a thread opens
Let not mercy and truth forsake you: bind them about your neck; write them upon the tablet of your heart:
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.
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is carved upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
from Proverbs 3:3
Since you are manifestly declared to be the letter of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets of human hearts.
from Jeremiah 17:1 · a strong link
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
from II Corinthians 3:3
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.
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 10:3
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
And you shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
from Leviticus 18:21 · a strong link
Again, you have heard that it has been said by them of old time, You shall not forswear yourself, but shall perform to the Lord your oaths:
from Leviticus 19:12
When you shall vow a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not slack to pay it: for the LORD your God will surely require it of you; and it would be sin in you.
from Matthew 5:33 · a strong link
I will go into your house with burnt offerings: I will pay you my vows,
from Deuteronomy 23:21
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
Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with inexpressible joy and full of glory:
from John 14:28
(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
from I Peter 1:8
Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brothers in the world.
from II Corinthians 5:7
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.
And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the LORD:
from Jude 1:11
These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.
from Numbers 26:9 · a strong link
And they rose up before Moses, with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
from Numbers 1:16
These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.
from Numbers 16:2
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)
from Luke 2:14
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
from Acts 10:36
To him that overcomes I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
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
Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
from Isaiah 50:8
Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
from Isaiah 41:1 · a strong link
To the praise of the glory of his grace, in which he has made us accepted in the beloved.
from Isaiah 1:18 · a strong link
The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.
from Ephesians 1:6
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.
Who said to his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brothers, nor knew his own children: for they have observed your word, and kept your covenant.
from Luke 14:26
Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;
from Deuteronomy 33:9
You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:11
They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
from Leviticus 19:28
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.
from Leviticus 21:5 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Proverbs 3:3 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