a thread opens
And now it is true that I am your near kinsman: however there is a kinsman nearer than I.
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.
Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat down there: and indeed, the kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; to whom he said, Come over here, friend! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.
from Ruth 3:12 · a strong link
And if the man like not to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.
from Ruth 4:1
Then said Boaz, What day you buy the field of the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.
from Deuteronomy 25:7
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.
I was mute, I opened not my mouth; because you did it.
from Leviticus 10:3
But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
from Psalms 39:9 · a strong link
To the director of music, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.
from Job 2:10
That the LORD may continue his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you (he said) a man on the throne of Israel.
from Psalms 39:1 · a strong link
And now, O LORD God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as you have said.
from I Kings 2:4 · a strong link
And you said, I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
from II Samuel 7:25
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,
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 Jude 1:24 · a strong link
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
from Ephesians 5:27
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
But I do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning them which are asleep, so that you may not grieve, even as others which have no hope.
from I Thessalonians 4:14
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to eternal life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
from I Thessalonians 4:13
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.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
from Jude 1:11
Look, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.
from Revelation of John 2:14 · a strong link
Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD,
from Numbers 31:16
They joined themselves also to Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
from Joshua 22:17
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
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 Luke 2:14 · a strong link
Therefore in all things it befitted him to be made like to his brothers, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
from Colossians 1:20
Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
from Hebrews 2:17
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?
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 Luke 18:7 · a strong link
For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees that their power has gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
Look, I will bring evil upon you, and will take away your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisses against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,
from Deuteronomy 32:36
Therefore, look, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisses against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man takes away dung, till it be all gone.
from I Kings 21:21 · a strong link
For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.
from I Kings 14:10 · a strong link
And Jehoahaz begged the LORD, and the LORD listened to him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.
from II Kings 14:26 · a strong link
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 father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
from Matthew 10:37 · a strong link
So likewise, whoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.
from Philippians 3:7 · a strong link
Love not the world, neither the things in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
from Luke 14:33
But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother have need, and closes his heart against him, how dwells the love of God in him?
from I John 2:15 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ruth 3:12 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