a thread opens
But be not you far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste you to help me.
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.
Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
from Psalms 22:19
For he shall deliver the needy when he cries; the poor also, and him that has no helper.
from Psalms 22:11
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich.
from Psalms 72:12
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
Blessed is the man whom you choose, and cause to approach to you, so that he may dwell in your courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, even of your holy temple.
from Leviticus 21:17
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
from Psalms 65:4
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to see the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.
from Psalms 23:6 · a strong link
And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.
from Psalms 27:4 · a strong link
I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.
from Luke 11:9 · 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 the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
from Jude 1:24
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
from Hebrews 13:20
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,
from Jeremiah 32:40
The oath which he swore to our father Abraham,
from Hebrews 6:13
That I may perform the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.
from Luke 1:73
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 first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Numbers 18:12
You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you shall give it to the stranger in your gates, so that he may eat it; or you may sell it to an alien: for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Exodus 34:26
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
from Luke 2:14
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 Isaiah 9:6
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
from Daniel 9:24
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
And I heard the angel of the waters say, You are righteous, O Lord, who are, and were, and shall be, because you have judged thus.
from Revelation of John 6:10 · a strong link
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things says the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What you see, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches in Asia; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.
And he says to me, Write, Blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he says to me, These are the true sayings of God.
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
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
from Psalms 73:25
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
from Matthew 5:8 · a strong link
Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for them that fear you; which you have worked for them that trust in you before the sons of men!
from I John 3:2
Look, what kind of love the Father has bestowed upon us, so that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
from Psalms 31:19 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Psalms 22:19 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