a thread opens
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;
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.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
from Psalms 8:3
For, look, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
from Genesis 1:1 · a strong link
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
from Isaiah 65:17 · a strong link
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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
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children;
from Psalms 23:6 · a strong link
But we must give thanks always to God for you, brothers beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
from Psalms 103:17
Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
from II Thessalonians 2:13 · a strong link
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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,
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
from Jude 1:24
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight:
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
from Colossians 1:22 · a strong link
Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
from Ephesians 5:27
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, since you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
from II Peter 3:14 · a strong link
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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.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.
from I John 3:12 · a strong link
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel.
from Hebrews 11:4 · a strong link
For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
from Hebrews 12:24
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Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
from Luke 2:14
These things I have spoken to you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but take courage; I have overcome the world.
from Romans 5:1
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 John 16:33
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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
Persecutions, afflictions, which came to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
from II Timothy 4:17
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often.
from II Timothy 3:11
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
from II Corinthians 11:23
According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon.
from I Corinthians 3:5
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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.
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Long time therefore remained they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony to the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
from Acts 20:24
And now, brothers, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
from Acts 14:3 · a strong link
Which is the deposit of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of his glory.
from Acts 20:32
For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
from Ephesians 1:14
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Psalms 8:3 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