a thread opens
Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: 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.
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and trouble of spirit.
from Ecclesiastes 6:9 · a strong link
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.
from Ecclesiastes 1:14
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
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 he shall wash the entrails and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
from Genesis 8:21
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 Leviticus 1:13
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 to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
from Jude 1:24
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
from Romans 16:25
And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and indeed, I will destroy them with the earth.
from Amos 3:7 · a strong link
But the end of all things is at hand: be therefore sober, and watch to prayer.
from Genesis 6:13
It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.
from I Peter 4:7
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 into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Numbers 18:12
And now, look, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which you, O LORD, have given me. And you shall set it before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God:
from Exodus 23:19 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
from Luke 2:14 · a strong link
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 Colossians 1:20 · a strong link
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
from II Corinthians 5:18
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
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
from II Thessalonians 1:6
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
from Revelation of John 18:24 · a strong link
For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
from Revelation of John 17:6 · a strong link
Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
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.
Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside you.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
from Psalms 73:25
For now we see in a mirror, dimly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
from Matthew 5:8 · a strong link
But we all, with open face seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
from I Corinthians 13:12 · a strong link
And have put on the new self, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
from II Corinthians 3:18 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ecclesiastes 6:9 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