a thread opens
Why do the pagans rage, and the people plot in vain?
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.
For they intended evil against you: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
from Psalms 2:1 · a strong link
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding angry, and sent forth, and slew all the children in Bethlehem, and in all its coasts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
from Psalms 21:11
And Delilah said to Samson, Look, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, please, with which you might be bound.
from Matthew 2:16
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.
Speak to Aaron, saying, Whoever he be of your seed in their generations that has any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
from Leviticus 10:3
And he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, Even tomorrow the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near to him: even him whom he has chosen will he cause to come near to him.
from Leviticus 21:17
And it shall happen, that the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the children of Israel, whereby they grumble against you.
from Numbers 16:5 · a strong link
For this reason both you and all your company are gathered together against the LORD: and what is Aaron, that you grumble against him?
from Numbers 17:5
And in the morning, then you shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he hears your grumblings against the LORD: and what are we, that you grumble against us?
from Numbers 16:11
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellence of our God.
from Exodus 16:7
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,
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.
from II Corinthians 4:14
This Jesus has God raised up, of which we all are witnesses.
from Romans 8:11
Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be held of it.
from Acts 2:32
Which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
from Acts 2:24 · a strong link
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.
Which have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.
from II Peter 2:15
For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire, and blesses the greedy, whom the LORD abhors.
from Proverbs 28:4
How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
from Psalms 10:3 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moves in it.
from Luke 2:14
Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
from Psalms 69:34 · a strong link
Sing, O you heavens; for the LORD has done it: shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it: for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
from Isaiah 49:13 · 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?
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness; but is patience toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
from Luke 18:7
And I gave her space to repent of her sexual immorality; and she repented not.
from II Peter 3:9
Moreover you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
Rejoice not against me, O my enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light to me.
from Jeremiah 8:4
Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
from Micah 7:8 · a strong link
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
from Psalms 107:10 · 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.
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
And they sent out to him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God in truth, neither care you for any man: for you regard not the person of men.
from Deuteronomy 33:9
And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
from Matthew 22:16
At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,
from Mark 8:15
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,
from Matthew 14:1
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Psalms 2:1 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