a thread opens
Therefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.
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.
Therefore I hated life; because the work that is worked under the sun is grievous to me: for all is vanity and trouble of spirit.
from Ecclesiastes 4:2
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had worked, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and indeed, all was vanity and trouble of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
from Ecclesiastes 2:17
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
from Ecclesiastes 2:11
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.
And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Look, I am against you, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of you: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
from Leviticus 10:3
I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the pagans.
from Ezekiel 28:22
But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
from Ezekiel 20:41
And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
from Isaiah 5:16
And the four living creatures had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
from Isaiah 6:3 · a strong link
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
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,
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
from Jude 1:24
For you were as sheep going astray; but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
from Hebrews 13:20
Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.
from I Peter 2:25 · a strong link
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
from Acts 20:28
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
from I Peter 2:9 · a strong link
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.
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
It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made weak.
Therefore, if food make my brother stumble, I will eat no flesh while the world stands, lest I make my brother stumble.
from Romans 14:21 · a strong link
Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed:
from I Corinthians 8:13
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.
from Luke 2:14
If you keep my commandments, you shall remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.
from John 17:4
And he that sent me is with me: the Father has not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
from John 15:10
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?
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
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
Rejoice, O you nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful to his land, and to his people.
from Deuteronomy 32:35
Why do you hide your face, and hold me for your enemy?
from Deuteronomy 32:43
Look, he finds occasions against me, he counts me for his enemy,
from Job 13:24
He has also kindled his wrath against me, and he counts me to him as one of his enemies.
from Job 33:10
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.
Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
from Philippians 3:8
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation:
from Colossians 2:2
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
from Colossians 1:15 · a strong link
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Look, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
from John 1:14
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ecclesiastes 4:2 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