a thread opens
The sorrows of death surrounded me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
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.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
from Psalms 18:4
Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose you.
from Isaiah 53:3 · a strong link
Look, my servant, whom I uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
from Isaiah 49:7
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.
And said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
from Leviticus 10:3
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
from Isaiah 49:3
If any man speak, let him speak as the utterances of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God gives: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
from I Peter 2:9
Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach to; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.
from I Peter 4:11
Who cover yourself with light as with a garment: who stretch out the heavens like a curtain:
from I Timothy 6:16
It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:
from Psalms 104:2
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,
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
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
from Hebrews 10:10
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
from Hebrews 10:12
Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
from Hebrews 9:12
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 in process of time it happened, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.
from Jude 1:11
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer to the LORD, them have I given you.
from Genesis 4:3
The firstfruit also of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him.
from Numbers 18:12
You shall not delay to offer the first of your ripe fruits, and of your liquors: the firstborn of your sons shall you give to me.
from Deuteronomy 18:4
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
If you keep my commandments, you shall remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.
from John 17:4
He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
from John 15:10
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
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 II Thessalonians 1:6
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, you King of saints.
And Moses spoke in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.
For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
from Deuteronomy 31:30
I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
from John 12:49 · a strong link
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.
Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end;
from Philippians 3:8
That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
from Hebrews 3:14
And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and ligaments being supported, and knit together, increases with the increase of God.
from Ephesians 3:6
He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
from Colossians 2:19
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Psalms 18:4 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