a thread opens
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young deer: look, he stands behind our wall, he looks forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice.
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.
Until the day breaks, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young deer upon the mountains of Bether.
from Song of Solomon 2:9 · a strong link
Until the day breaks, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.
from Song of Solomon 2:17 · a strong link
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high has visited us,
from Song of Solomon 4:6
I shall see him, but not now: I shall look on him, but not near: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall strike the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
from Luke 1:78
But to the Son he said, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
from Numbers 24:17
a thread opens
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, and he that formed you from the womb, I am the LORD that makes all things; that stretches forth the heavens alone; that spreads abroad the earth by myself;
from I Corinthians 8:4
And forget the LORD your maker, that has stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
from Isaiah 44:24
It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:
from Isaiah 51:13
Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he sees not; and he walks in the circuit of heaven.
from Isaiah 40:22
a thread opens
By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
from I John 3:16
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
from John 10:15
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong; because he has poured out his soul to death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
from Isaiah 53:10
a thread opens
But the anointing which you have received of him remains in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall remain in him.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
from I John 2:27
But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city.
from Hebrews 8:10
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
from Hebrews 11:16
For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
from John 14:2 · a strong link
But you have come to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
from Hebrews 13:14
But Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
from Hebrews 12:22 · a strong link
a thread opens
And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, varieties of tongues.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone;
from I Corinthians 12:28
For we are laborers together with God: you are God’s husbandry, you are God’s building.
from Ephesians 2:20
Then he said to his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few;
from I Corinthians 3:9
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.
from Matthew 9:37
And the LORD said to Moses, Why do you cry to me? speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward:
from Psalms 68:11
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I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy your people, who are present here, to offer willingly to you.
I the LORD search the heart, I try the inmost thoughts, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
from I Chronicles 29:17 · a strong link
The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD tries the hearts.
from Jeremiah 17:10
As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.
from Proverbs 17:3 · a strong link
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, so that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness.
from Proverbs 27:21
a thread opens
Clean out therefore the old leaven, so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
from I Corinthians 5:7
Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whoever eats that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
from Exodus 12:15
And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover: There shall no stranger eat of it:
from Exodus 12:19
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Song of Solomon 2:9 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