a thread opens
The dead bodies of your servants have they given to be food to the birds of the heaven, the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth.
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.
I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.
from Psalms 79:2
And afterward, says the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
from Jeremiah 34:20
And the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.
from Jeremiah 21:7 · a strong link
Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:
from II Kings 25:5
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent you, and believe the gospel.
from Acts 20:21
Even the very dust of your city, which cleaves on us, we do wipe off against you: nevertheless be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near to you.
from Mark 1:15
And heal the sick in it, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near to you.
from Luke 10:11
And saying, Repent you: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
from Luke 10:9 · a strong link
Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.
from Matthew 3:2
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
from Acts 13:38
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
from II Corinthians 5:18
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 Colossians 1:20
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.
from Isaiah 9:6 · a strong link
All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
from Matthew 28:18 · a strong link
The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.
from Matthew 11:27 · a strong link
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.
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
from Acts 17:31
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
from Romans 2:16 · a strong link
I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
from Ecclesiastes 12:14
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
There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
from Matthew 27:2
After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
from Luke 13:1
And it happened in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
from Acts 5:37
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.
In that you have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
from Acts 7:51
And the uncircumcised male whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.
from Ezekiel 44:7
And it happened by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.
from Genesis 17:14
And they shall listen to your voice: and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him, The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us: and now let us go, we beg you, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
from Exodus 4:24
And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go: perhaps the LORD will come to meet me: and whatever he shows me I will tell you. And he went to a high place.
from Exodus 3:18
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
By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
from Acts 9:15
For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the pagans, says the LORD of hosts.
from Romans 1:5
That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
from Malachi 1:11
That men may know that you, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, are the most high over all the earth.
from Isaiah 45:6
Consume them in wrath, consume them, so that they may not be: and let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah.
from Psalms 83:18
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Psalms 79:2 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