a thread opens
He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion around him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
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.
Clouds and darkness are around him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
from Psalms 18:11 · a strong link
And the LORD said to Moses, Look, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you for ever. And Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.
from Psalms 97:2
Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you: and upon earth he showed you his great fire; and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.
from Exodus 19:9 · a strong link
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.
I was mute, I opened not my mouth; because you did it.
from Leviticus 10:3
And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD has said to him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Why have you done so?
from Psalms 39:9
No but, O man, who are you that reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?
from II Samuel 16:10
Why do you strive against him? for he gives not account of any of his matters.
from Romans 9:20 · a strong link
Shall he that contends with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproves God, let him answer it.
from Job 33:13 · a strong link
Woe to him that strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, What do you make? or your work, He has no hands?
from Job 40:2
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
I have manifested your name to the men which you gave me out of the world: yours they were, and you gave them me; and they have kept your word.
from John 10:29
And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it: that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.
from John 17:6 · a strong link
I will declare your name to my brothers: in the midst of the congregation will I praise you.
from John 17:26
Then Jesus said to them, Be not afraid: go tell my brothers that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
from Psalms 22:22
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
A Prayer of David. Hear the right, O LORD, attend to my cry, give ear to my prayer, that goes not out of feigned lips.
from Proverbs 15:8
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.
from Luke 2:14
And whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
from John 17:4
You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, so that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
from John 14:13 · 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
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
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
from Isaiah 50:8
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
from Romans 8:32 · a strong link
And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
from John 3:16 · a strong link
Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
from John 10:28
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 his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
from John 12:25
And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me.
from Luke 9:23 · a strong link
And when he had called the people to him with his disciples also, he said to them, Whoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
from Matthew 10:38 · a strong link
Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
from Mark 8:34
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Psalms 18:11 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