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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
And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.
from Ephesians 6:21 · a strong link
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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.
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
And the room whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, which come near to the LORD to minister to him.
from Numbers 16:5
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 Ezekiel 40:46 · a strong link
And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a pleasing aroma: all the fat is the LORD’s.
from Ezekiel 44:15
Speak to the children of Israel, saying, You shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat.
from Leviticus 3:16
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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,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
from Ephesians 5:27
For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
from Hebrews 9:14
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
from Hebrews 10:2
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
from Hebrews 10:17
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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.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
from Jude 1:11
Nevertheless, to avoid sexual immorality, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
from I Corinthians 7:2
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
from Ephesians 5:33
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Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
from Colossians 1:20
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?
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
from Luke 18:7
But I would have you without anxiety. He that is unmarried cares for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
from I Timothy 5:5
Do not be anxious about anything; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
from I Corinthians 7:32
Trust in him at all times; you people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
from Philippians 4:6 · a strong link
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
from Psalms 62:8 · a strong link
All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
from Psalms 18:2
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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
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
And when we cried to the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression:
from Genesis 29:32 · a strong link
Now therefore, look, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me: and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
from Deuteronomy 26:7
And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.
from Exodus 3:9
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