a thread opens
Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
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.
You shall not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s apparel to pledge:
from Psalms 82:3
You shall neither trouble a stranger, nor oppress him: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
from Deuteronomy 24:17
I am the LORD your God, which have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
from Exodus 22:21
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.
And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.
from Leviticus 10:3
And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.
from Exodus 19:22
And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
from Exodus 24:5
And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.
from Exodus 18:12
And you shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the LORD your God.
from Deuteronomy 12:7
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
from Deuteronomy 27:7
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,
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
from II Corinthians 4:14 · a strong link
To the end he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
from I Thessalonians 4:14
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
from I Thessalonians 3:13
To the director of music, A Psalm of David. O LORD, you have searched me, and known me.
from I John 3:20
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.
Which have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Acacia to Gilgal; that you may know the righteousness of the LORD.
from II Peter 2:15
And Israel remained in Acacia, and the people began to commit prostitution with the daughters of Moab.
from Micah 6:5 · a strong link
And Moses said to them, Have you saved all the women alive?
from Numbers 25:1
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and its fullness.
from Luke 2:14
The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be its glad.
from Psalms 96:11
Say among the pagans that the LORD reigns: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
from Psalms 97:1 · a strong link
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?
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to repay with affliction those who afflict you;
from Luke 18:7
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
from II Thessalonians 1:6
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, you King of saints.
For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
from Revelation of John 15:3 · a strong link
And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir to them; he shone forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.
from Isaiah 33:22
And I saw, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
from Deuteronomy 33:2
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.
Who said to his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brothers, nor knew his own children: for they have observed your word, and kept your covenant.
from Luke 14:26
And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither tear your clothes; lest you die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, mourn the burning which the LORD has kindled.
from Deuteronomy 33:9
But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the things devoted to destruction: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the things devoted to destruction: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.
from Leviticus 10:6 · a strong link
And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all.
from Joshua 7:1
For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations around.
from I Chronicles 2:6
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Psalms 82:3 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