a thread opens
Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from your way;
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.
Many are my persecutors and my enemies; yet do I not decline from your testimonies.
from Psalms 44:18 · a strong link
The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from your law.
from Psalms 119:157
O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived: you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocks me.
from Psalms 119:51 · a strong link
For the zeal of your house has eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached you have fallen upon me.
from Jeremiah 20:7
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
Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am; that they may see my glory, which you have given me: for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
from John 17:2 · a strong link
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
from John 17:24
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
from I Thessalonians 4:17
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
from Acts 13:38
Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, so that he might make his mighty power to be known.
from I John 2:12
And in very deed for this cause have I raised you up, to show in you my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
from Psalms 106:8 · a strong link
And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: to which also they were appointed.
from Exodus 9:16
But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness;
from I Peter 2:8
O foolish Galatians, who has cast a spell on you, so that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been publicly portrayed, crucified among you?
from I Corinthians 1:23
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.
Before the LORD: for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
from Acts 17:31
And I saw heaven opened, and look, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war.
from Psalms 96:13 · a strong link
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
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 from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
from I Timothy 6:13
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
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.
To a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of you; for you are a stiff-necked people: lest I consume you in the way.
from Acts 7:51
Get you up from among this congregation, so that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.
from Exodus 33:3
Speak to the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
from Numbers 16:45
Separate yourselves from among this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment.
from Numbers 16:24
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.
from Numbers 16:21
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
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 Acts 9:15 · a strong link
And from there sailed to Antioch, from where they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.
from Acts 13:2
Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but to the Jews only.
from Acts 14:26
Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
from Acts 11:19
Now there were in the church at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
from Acts 15:35
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Psalms 44:18 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