a thread opens
To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
from Colossians 1:2
But that you also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things:
from Ephesians 1:1
When I shall send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, do your best to come to me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.
from Ephesians 6:21
Do your best to come shortly to me:
from Titus 3:12
Greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy;
from II Timothy 4:9
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.
Look, you are of nothing, and your work of nothing: an abomination is he that chooses you.
from I Corinthians 8:4
Look, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their cast images are wind and confusion.
from Isaiah 41:24
And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them.
from Isaiah 41:29
How long will you speak these things? and how long shall the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?
from Jeremiah 5:13
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 God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
He that believes on the Son has eternal life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God remains on him.
from John 3:16 · a strong link
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
from John 3:36 · a strong link
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.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
from I John 2:27
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.
from I Corinthians 2:13 · a strong link
And I, brothers, when I came to you, came not with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God.
from I Corinthians 1:17 · a strong link
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
from I Corinthians 2:1 · a strong link
For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
from I Corinthians 2:4 · a strong link
(For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;)
from I Corinthians 4:20 · a strong link
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
Now there were in the church at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
from Romans 12:6
And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of comfort,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,
from Acts 13:1
And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go to the pagans, and they to the circumcision.
from Acts 4:36
For I say, through the grace given to me, to every man among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.
from Galatians 2:9
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.
But the LORD said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?
from I Samuel 16:7 · a strong link
Shall not God search this out? for he knows the secrets of the heart.
from Proverbs 15:11 · a strong link
For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he sees all his goings.
from Psalms 44:21
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:
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: you shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
from I Corinthians 5:7
You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God any young bull, or sheep, in which is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.
from Exodus 12:5
And if you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now to your governor; will he be pleased with you, or accept you? says the LORD of hosts.
from Deuteronomy 17:1
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Colossians 1:2 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