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
For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constrains me.
from Acts 4:20
My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spoke I with my tongue,
from Job 32:18
So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
from Psalms 39:3
And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looks toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.
from Ezekiel 3:14
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.
Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
from I Corinthians 8:4
And said, O LORD God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? and rule not you over all the kingdoms of the pagans? and in your hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand you?
from Deuteronomy 4:39
This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever he will, and sets up over it the basest of men.
from II Chronicles 20:6
He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he has set the world upon them.
from Daniel 4:17
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.
For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit:
from I John 3:16
Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.
from I Peter 3:18
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
from Romans 4:25
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 cause we also thank God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which is at work also in you that believe.
from I John 2:27
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
from I Thessalonians 2:13
And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told you of all things which are appointed for you to do.
from Acts 16:30
But rise, and stand upon your feet: for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of these things which you have seen, and of those things in which I will appear to you;
from Acts 22:10
And he said to me, Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak to you.
from Acts 26:16
And you, son of man, take you a sharp knife, take you a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon your head and upon your beard: then take you balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
from Ezekiel 2:1
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.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
from I Corinthians 12:28
As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
from Romans 12:6 · a strong link
For even the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
from I Peter 4:10
Even as the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
from Mark 10:45 · a strong link
And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head.
from Matthew 20:28
a thread opens
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.
You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
from I Chronicles 29:17
Neither as domineering over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock.
from I Thessalonians 2:10
But Jesus called them to him, and said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
from I Peter 5:3
So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said to them, Know you what I have done to you?
from Matthew 20:25
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:
And I saw, and, look, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
from I Corinthians 5:7
The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
from Revelation of John 5:6 · a strong link
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
from John 1:29
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