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
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and trouble of spirit.
from Ecclesiastes 2:11 · a strong link
And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is trouble of spirit.
from Ecclesiastes 1:14
a thread opens
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
from Acts 20:21
Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
from Luke 24:47
You love righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
from Daniel 9:24
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have first place.
from Psalms 45:7
And has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
from Colossians 1:18 · a strong link
a thread opens
Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins:
Him has God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
from Acts 13:38
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 Acts 5:31
For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regards not persons, nor takes reward:
from Isaiah 9:6
And said, I beg you, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keeps covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:
from Deuteronomy 10:17
You shall not be affrighted at them: for the LORD your God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.
from Nehemiah 1:5
And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that you LORD art among this people, that you LORD art seen face to face, and that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
from Deuteronomy 7:21
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
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Look, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints,
from Matthew 25:31
Look, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
from Jude 1:14
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
The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
from Matthew 27:2 · a strong link
But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
from Acts 3:13
For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, Away with him.
from John 19:15
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.
Thus says the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger among the children of Israel.
from Acts 7:51
In that you have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
from Ezekiel 44:9
Circumcise therefore your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
from Ezekiel 44:7
Understand therefore, that the LORD your God gives you not this good land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.
from Deuteronomy 10:16
Furthermore the LORD spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stiff-necked people:
from Deuteronomy 9:6
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
At my first defense no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
from Acts 9:15
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
from II Timothy 4:16 · a strong link
But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
from Acts 7:60
But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.
from Acts 9:40 · a strong link
But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
from Matthew 9:25
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