a thread opens
Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
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.
The days of our years are sixty years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be eighty years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
from Zechariah 1:5
But God said to him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be, which you have provided?
from Psalms 90:10
As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not; so he that gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
from Luke 12:20 · a strong link
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 said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
from Leviticus 10:3
Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you, and your fellows that sit before you: for they are men wondered at: for, look, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
from Isaiah 49:3
In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up to David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
from Zechariah 3:8
Look, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
from Jeremiah 33:15
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 Jeremiah 23:5
We have an altar, of which they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
from Isaiah 53:10
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,
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
from Jude 1:24
And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.
from II Timothy 4:18
The blessing of the LORD, it makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.
from I Chronicles 4:10
He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the dunghill;
from Proverbs 10:22
And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself also; and he sat down among the ashes.
from Psalms 113:7
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.
And in process of time it happened, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.
from Jude 1:11
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer to the LORD, them have I given you.
from Genesis 4:3
The firstfruit also of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him.
from Numbers 18:12
You shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the firstfruits to the LORD.
from Deuteronomy 18:4
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.
from Luke 2:14
If you keep my commandments, you shall remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.
from John 17:4
My little children, these things I write to you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
from John 15:10
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?
But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
from Luke 18:7
And I will make you to this people a fenced bronze wall: and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you: for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says the LORD.
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
A Song of Ascents. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:
from Jeremiah 15:20
A Song of Ascents. In my distress I cried to the LORD, and he heard me.
from Psalms 129:1
In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
from Psalms 120:1
Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even to heaven.
from Psalms 18:6
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 Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD has looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.
from Deuteronomy 33:9
Look upon my affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.
from Genesis 29:32
It may be that the LORD will look on my affliction, and that the LORD will repay me good for his cursing this day.
from Psalms 25:18
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
from II Samuel 16:12
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Zechariah 1:5 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