a thread opens
But God is the judge: he puts down one, and sets up another.
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.
And he changes the times and the seasons: he removes kings, and sets up kings: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
from Psalms 75:7
This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever he will, and sets up over it the basest of men.
from Daniel 2:21
The LORD is known by the judgment which he executes: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
from Daniel 4:17
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
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
from Psalms 65:4
They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for he that has mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
from Revelation of John 7:16 · a strong link
And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst.
from Isaiah 49:10
All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out.
from John 6:35
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 to him that is able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link
But our God is in the heavens: he has done whatever he has pleased.
from Romans 4:21
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will:
from Psalms 115:3
To an inheritance imperishable, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you,
from Ephesians 1:11 · 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.
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
Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest:
from Deuteronomy 18:4
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
To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
from Isaiah 9:6
And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that you shall give me I will surely give the tenth to you.
from Hebrews 7:2
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?
But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
from Luke 18:7
However the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
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 II Timothy 4:17 · a strong link
By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
from Acts 9:15
But cursed be the deceiver, which has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the pagans.
from Romans 1:5
He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.
from Malachi 1:14
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.
He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
And every one that has forsaken houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life.
from John 12:25
Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
from Matthew 19:29 · a strong link
And you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
from Matthew 5:11 · a strong link
And Jesus says to him, See you tell no man; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.
from Matthew 10:18
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Psalms 75:7 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