a thread opens
I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of its boughs: now also your breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of your nose like apples;
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.
Because of the savor of your good ointments your name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love you.
from Song of Solomon 7:8
Take also principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,
from Song of Solomon 1:3
Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
from Exodus 30:23
Who is this that comes out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?
from Song of Solomon 4:14
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance to life.
from Acts 20:21
And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said to him, You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
from Acts 11:18
I am truly a man who am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as you all are this day.
from Acts 21:20 · a strong link
Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;
from Acts 22:3 · a strong link
And it happened on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which had come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
from Acts 5:34
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
from Acts 13:38 · a strong link
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before you.
from Luke 24:47
And he said, It is a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.
from Psalms 22:27
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in me.
from Isaiah 49:6 · a strong link
And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
from Acts 26:18
Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
from I John 5:19
a thread opens
Because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
from Acts 17:31
Before the LORD; for he comes to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
from Psalms 9:8
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 98:9
a thread opens
For truly against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
from Matthew 27:2 · a strong link
And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Pretorium; and they call together the whole band.
from Matthew 20:19
And went again into the judgment hall, and said to Jesus, Where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer.
from Mark 15:16
a thread opens
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.
And do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed to the day of redemption.
from Acts 7:51
And when he had looked around on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
from Ephesians 4:30
For I would not, brothers, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles have come in.
from Mark 3:5
After this I saw, and, look, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
from Romans 11:25
You have a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
a thread opens
And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
from Acts 22:21 · a strong link
As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
from Acts 9:15 · a strong link
To which I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
from Acts 13:2 · a strong link
To which I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.
from II Timothy 1:11 · a strong link
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
from I Timothy 2:7
The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
from Romans 9:1
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Song of Solomon 7:8 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