a thread opens
For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
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.
What profits the carved image that its maker has carved it; the cast image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusts in it, to make mute idols?
from Zechariah 10:2
But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
from Habakkuk 2:18
Look, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their cast images are wind and confusion.
from Jeremiah 10:8
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
And he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, Even tomorrow the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near to him: even him whom he has chosen will he cause to come near to him.
from Leviticus 21:17
But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord GOD:
from Numbers 16:5
And you shall give to the priests the Levites that are of the seed of Zadok, which approach to me, to minister to me, says the Lord GOD, a young bull for a sin offering.
from Ezekiel 44:15
To be a memorial to the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the LORD; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.
from Ezekiel 43:19
And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that comes near shall be put to death.
from Numbers 16:40
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
But my horn shall you exalt like the horn of a wild ox: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
from II Timothy 4:18
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
from Psalms 92:10 · a strong link
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
from Psalms 23:5
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
from I John 2:20
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.
Which have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. Spots they are and blemishes, reveling with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
from II Peter 2:15
But to them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
from II Peter 2:13
Only by pride comes contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.
from Romans 2:8
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
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and breathed his last.
from John 17:4
Since therefore the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
from John 19:30
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
Fear not; for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your God: I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link
The LORD will give strength to his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.
from Isaiah 41:10 · a strong link
The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.
from Psalms 29:11 · a strong link
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says to Zion, Your God reigns!
from Psalms 72:3
The LORD reigns; let the people tremble: he sits between the cherubim; let the earth be moved.
from Isaiah 52:7
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.
Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside you.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,
from Psalms 73:25 · a strong link
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
from Philippians 3:8
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
from II Corinthians 4:6 · a strong link
As you have given him power over all flesh, so that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.
from Isaiah 40:5
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Zechariah 10:2 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