a thread opens
I sought in my heart to give myself to wine, yet guiding my heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, who they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.
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.
And do not get drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit;
from Ecclesiastes 2:3
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
from Ephesians 5:18
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
from Genesis 9:21
But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
from Proverbs 20:1 · a strong link
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
I tell you, No: but, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.
from Acts 20:21
Then he went, and took with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also to this wicked generation.
from Luke 13:3
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,
from Matthew 12:45
And the man that will do defiantly, and will not listen to the priest that stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel.
from Hebrews 10:26
And that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.
from Deuteronomy 17:12
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
from Acts 13:38
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
from II Corinthians 5:18
Therefore he is able also to save them completely that come to God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.
from Romans 5:10
Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.
from Hebrews 7:25 · a strong link
And killed the Prince of life, whom God has raised from the dead; of which we are witnesses.
from John 14:6 · a strong link
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him;
from Acts 3:15
a thread opens
Because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
from Acts 17:31
For whoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.
from Matthew 25:31
A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
from Luke 9:26 · a strong link
a thread opens
For truly against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
from Acts 4:27 · a strong link
I give you charge in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
from Matthew 27:2
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 I Timothy 6:13 · a strong link
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved to judgment;
from I Timothy 5:21
a thread opens
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.
To a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of you; for you are a stiff-necked people: lest I consume you in the way.
from Acts 7:51
And he said to him, If your presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
from Exodus 33:3
And he said, If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, please, go among us; for it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.
from Exodus 33:15
He gave his people over also to the sword; and was angry with his inheritance.
from Exodus 34:9
And the Philistines fought, and Israel was struck, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.
from Psalms 78:62
a thread opens
And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles.
But the Lord said to him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
from Acts 22:21 · a strong link
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
from Acts 9:15 · a strong link
Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.
from Galatians 1:15 · a strong link
And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Highest: for you shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
from Jeremiah 1:5
Look, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in: look, he shall come, says the LORD of hosts.
from Luke 1:76 · a strong link
Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
from Malachi 3:1 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ecclesiastes 2:3 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