a thread opens
And he said, Who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth your maidservant: spread therefore your cloak over your maidservant; for you are a near kinsman.
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 now it is true that I am your near kinsman: however there is a kinsman nearer than I.
from Ruth 3:9
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
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
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips:
from Psalms 65:4
My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.
from Psalms 63:5
I will meditate also of all your work, and talk of your doings.
from Psalms 104:34 · a strong link
They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk of your power;
from Psalms 77:12
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
And I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from now on: Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.
from I Thessalonians 4:14
Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
from Revelation of John 14:13 · a strong link
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
from Revelation of John 20:6 · 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.
The look on their faces bears witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe to their soul! for they have rewarded evil to themselves.
from Jude 1:11
But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
from Isaiah 3:9 · a strong link
And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
from Genesis 13:13
Look, the hire of the laborers who have harvested your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.
from Genesis 18:20
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.
from Luke 1:79
But now thus says the LORD that created you, O Jacob, and he that formed you, O Israel, Do not fear: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are mine.
from Psalms 23:4 · 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?
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great reward.
from Luke 18:7
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 Hebrews 10:35
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
from I Corinthians 15:58 · a strong link
Be patient therefore, brothers, to the coming of the Lord. Look, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
from I Thessalonians 1:3
That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, and your wine, and your oil.
from James 5:7 · a strong link
Be not afraid, you beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree bears her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
from Deuteronomy 11:14
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.
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
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 20:24
But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
from Acts 20:32
When I call to remembrance the sincere faith in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in you also.
from Jude 1:20
I was cast upon you from the womb: you are my God from my mother’s belly.
from II Timothy 1:5
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ruth 3:9 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