a thread opens
They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
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.
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
from Psalms 135:16
O LORD, why have you made us to err from your ways, and hardened our heart from your fear? Return for your servants’ sake, the tribes of your inheritance.
from Isaiah 6:10
For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourns in Israel, which separates himself from me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
from Isaiah 63:17
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
You shall not do so to the LORD your God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
from Leviticus 18:21
And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
from Deuteronomy 12:31
And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
from Jeremiah 7:31
And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with mediums and spiritists: he worked much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
from II Kings 17:17 · 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,
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
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link
All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
from Isaiah 55:7
There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
from Mark 7:23
O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
from Mark 7:15
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.
A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaks lies shall not escape.
A false witness shall perish: but the man that hears speaks constantly.
from Proverbs 19:5 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And every creature in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.
from Luke 2:14
And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
from Revelation of John 6:16 · 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?
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
Rejoice over her, you heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets; for God has avenged you on her.
Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
from Luke 11:49
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unfathomable are his judgments, and his ways beyond tracing out!
from Colossians 2:3 · a strong link
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
from Romans 11:33
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
Because your loving devotion is better than life, my lips shall praise you.
from Psalms 73:25 · a strong link
Hear me, O LORD; for your loving devotion is good: turn to me according to the multitude of your tender mercies.
from Psalms 63:3 · a strong link
Turn you to me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.
from Psalms 69:16
O turn to me, and have mercy upon me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your maidservant.
from Psalms 25:16
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Psalms 135:16 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