The Vigil

from Deuteronomy 21:23

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.

a thread opens

Deuteronomy 21:23

His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that your land be not defiled, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.

John 19:31

The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, so that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was a high day,) begged Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

from Deuteronomy 21:23

John 19:42

There they laid Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the tomb was near at hand.

from John 19:31

John 19:14

And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour: and he says to the Jews, Look, your King!

from John 19:42 · a strong link


a thread opens

Leviticus 10:3

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.

Leviticus 21:21

No man that has a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.

from Leviticus 10:3

Leviticus 21:6

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 21:21

Leviticus 3:11

And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD.

from Leviticus 21:6 · a strong link

Leviticus 3:16

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 Leviticus 3:11

Acts 28:27

For the heart of this people is grew gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

from Leviticus 7:23


a thread opens

Jude 1:24

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,

Romans 16:25

Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

from Jude 1:24

Colossians 1:26

Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

from Romans 16:25

I Corinthians 13:2

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.

from Ephesians 3:4


a thread opens

Jude 1:11

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.

I John 3:12

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

Proverbs 29:27

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

John 17:14

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

Luke 2:14

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Revelation of John 5:13

And every creature in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.

from Luke 2:14


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Luke 18:7

And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?

Jeremiah 20:11

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

Deuteronomy 32:35

To me belongs vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

from Jeremiah 20:11 · a strong link

Isaiah 5:19

That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, so that we may know it!

from Deuteronomy 32:35

Jeremiah 23:36

And the burden of the LORD shall you mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.

from Isaiah 5:19

II Peter 3:16

As also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to understand, which they that are ignorant and unstable twist, as they do also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

from Jeremiah 23:36

Matthew 15:6

And honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have you made the commandment of God void by your tradition.

from II Peter 3:16


a thread opens

Luke 14:26

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.

Psalms 73:25

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

II Corinthians 7:1

Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all obscenity of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

from Matthew 5:8

Nehemiah 5:15

But the former governors that had been before me were a burden to the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants bore rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.

from Proverbs 16:6

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Deuteronomy 21:23 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