a thread opens
Again, I considered all toil, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbor. This is also vanity and trouble of spirit.
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.
For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that has not labored in it shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
from Ecclesiastes 4:4
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 2:21
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
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.
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 10:3
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
Command the children of Israel, and say to them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a pleasing aroma to me, shall you observe to offer to me in their due season.
from Leviticus 3:11
And the LORD smelled a pleasing aroma; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again strike any more everything living, as I have done.
from Numbers 28:2
But his entrails and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
from Genesis 8:21
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 Leviticus 1:9
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,
But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.
from Jude 1:24
And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
from I Peter 4:13
Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
from Acts 5:41
For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.
from II Corinthians 12:10 · a strong link
And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
from II Corinthians 13:4
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 first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Numbers 18:12
The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Exodus 34:26 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
from Luke 2:14
For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the dividing wall between us;
from Romans 5:1
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 Ephesians 2:14
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?
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to repay with affliction those who afflict you;
from Luke 18:7
If I sharpen my glittering sword, and my hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to my enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
from II Thessalonians 1:6
In that day the LORD with his grievous and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon in the sea.
from Deuteronomy 32:41
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Are you not it that has cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
from Isaiah 27:1 · a strong link
Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
from Isaiah 51:9
The eyes of your heart being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
from Isaiah 53:1
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.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives to the death.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Then Paul answered, What mean you to weep and to break my heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
from Acts 21:13
But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead:
from II Corinthians 4:10
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to torment me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
from II Corinthians 1:9
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ecclesiastes 4:4 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