a thread opens
Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he has hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
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 when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman; and they shall not escape.
from Psalms 35:8 · a strong link
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
from I Thessalonians 5:3
Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come upon you.
from Luke 21:34
Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. [Not in the earliest manuscripts. King James also had: “wherein the Son of man cometh.”]
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is the testimony, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
from Acts 20:21
As you have given him power over all flesh, so that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.
from I John 5:11
And this is the Father’s will which has sent me, that of all which he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
from John 17:2 · a strong link
Even so it is not the will of your Father in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
from John 6:39
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 Matthew 18:14
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
from Acts 13:38
While Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the word.
from Acts 2:38 · a strong link
And God, who knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did to us;
from Acts 10:44
Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?
from Acts 15:8
And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what does hinder me to be baptized?
from Acts 10:47 · a strong link
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.
from Acts 8:36
a thread opens
Because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved to fire for the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
from Acts 17:31
Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
from II Peter 3:7 · a strong link
And the mountains shall be cast under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.
from II Peter 3:12 · a strong link
a thread opens
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,
And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
I give you charge in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
from Matthew 27:2
And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
from I Timothy 6:13
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.
a thread opens
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.
Thus says the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger among the children of Israel.
from Acts 7:51
So shall you know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
from Ezekiel 44:9
For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwells in Zion.
from Joel 3:17
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your obscenity, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
from Joel 3:21
Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.
from Ezekiel 36:25
a thread opens
And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
from Acts 22:21 · a strong link
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
from Acts 9:15 · a strong link
As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
from Galatians 1:15
Then the Spirit said to Philip, Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.
from Acts 13:2
While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said to him, Look, three men seek you.
from Acts 8:29
Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the later times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to deceitful spirits, and doctrines of demons;
from Acts 10:19
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Psalms 35:8 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