a thread opens
For you shall be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.
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.
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
from Acts 22:15
And Balaam said to Balak, Look, I have come to you: have I now any power at all to say anything? the word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I speak.
from Acts 4:20
And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again to Balak, and say thus.
from Numbers 22:38
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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.
They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
from Leviticus 10:3
And you shall not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link
You shall not do so to the LORD your God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
from Leviticus 18:21
And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
from Deuteronomy 12:31
And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
from Jeremiah 32:35 · a strong link
And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
from Jeremiah 7:31
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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,
Now to him that is able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
I have come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yes, drink abundantly, O beloved.
from Ephesians 3:20
Awake, O north wind; and come, you south; blow upon my garden, so that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.
from Song of Solomon 5:1
My beloved has gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
from Song of Solomon 4:16 · a strong link
His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
from Song of Solomon 6:2 · 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.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
from Jude 1:11 · a strong link
An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.
from I John 3:12
Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hate you.
from Proverbs 29:27
I have given them your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
from I John 3:13 · a strong link
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
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
from Luke 1:79
The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.
from Psalms 85:10 · a strong link
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And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness; but is patience toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
from Luke 18:7
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
from II Peter 3:9 · a strong link
That whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
from I Timothy 2:4
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
from John 3:15
And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
from I John 5:1
Has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
from Matthew 16:16
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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
I charge you before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that you observe these things without favoritism, doing nothing by partiality.
from Deuteronomy 33:9
Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they not quarrel about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
from I Timothy 5:21
And turn you not aside: for then should you go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.
from II Timothy 2:14
They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
from I Samuel 12:21 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Acts 22:15 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