a thread opens
For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; yes, they have all one breath; so that a man has no advantage above a beast: for all is vanity.
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.
Nevertheless man being in honor remains not: he is like the beasts that perish.
from Ecclesiastes 3:19 · a strong link
Look, you have made my days as a handbreadth; and my age is as nothing before you: truly every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
from Psalms 49:12
Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passes away.
from Psalms 39:5
a thread opens
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.
I was mute, I opened not my mouth; because you did it.
from Leviticus 10:3
And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD has said to him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Why have you done so?
from Psalms 39:9
No but, O man, who are you that reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?
from II Samuel 16:10
Woe to him that strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, What do you make? or your work, He has no hands?
from Romans 9:20 · a strong link
There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.
from Isaiah 45:9
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness.
from Proverbs 21:30
a thread opens
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,
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
from Jude 1:24
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
from Revelation of John 14:5 · a strong link
(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
from Psalms 32:2
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
from Romans 5:13
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
from I Corinthians 15:56
a thread opens
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.
And in process of time it happened, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.
from Jude 1:11
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer to the LORD, them have I given you.
from Genesis 4:3
The firstfruit also of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him.
from Numbers 18:12
Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest:
from Deuteronomy 18:4
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
from Luke 2:14
And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Look I and the children which God has given me.
from Isaiah 9:6 · a strong link
Look, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.
from Hebrews 2:13
a thread opens
And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?
A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the director of music upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you:
from Luke 18:7 · a strong link
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you hear not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
from Psalms 88:1 · a strong link
My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, Where is your God?
from Psalms 22:2
As with a sword in my bones, my enemies reproach me; while they say daily to me, Where is your God?
from Psalms 42:3
Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the portico and the altar, and let them say, Spare your people, O LORD, and give not your heritage to reproach, that the pagans should rule over them: why should they say among the people, Where is their God?
from Psalms 42:10
And the portico before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was its length, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was its breadth before the house.
from Joel 2:17
a thread opens
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.
He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
For the love of Christ compels us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
from Matthew 10:37
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
from II Corinthians 5:14 · a strong link
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
from Galatians 2:20 · a strong link
Therefore if you have died with Christ from the elementary principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances,
from Colossians 3:3 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ecclesiastes 3:19 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