The Vigil

from Ecclesiastes 8:5

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.

a thread opens

Ecclesiastes 8:5

Whoever keeps the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.

Ecclesiastes 2:14

The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one fate happens to them all.

from Ecclesiastes 8:5

Ecclesiastes 3:19

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.

from Ecclesiastes 2:14


a thread opens

Leviticus 10:3

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.

Exodus 19:22

And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.

from Leviticus 10:3

Exodus 24:5

And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD.

from Exodus 19:22

Exodus 18:12

And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

from Exodus 24:5

Deuteronomy 12:7

And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

from Exodus 18:12

Deuteronomy 12:17

You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your wine, or of your oil, or the firstlings of your herds or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, or contribution of your hand:

from Deuteronomy 15:20


a thread opens

Jude 1:24

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,

Romans 16:25

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

Acts 20:32

And now, brothers, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

from Romans 16:25

Acts 9:31

Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, were multiplied.

from Acts 20:32

Proverbs 14:26

In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

from Acts 9:31


a thread opens

Jude 1:11

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.

Numbers 16:1

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:

from Jude 1:11

Exodus 6:18

And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were a hundred thirty-three years.

from Numbers 16:1

Numbers 26:57

And these are they that were numbered of the Levites after their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites: of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites: of Merari, the family of the Merarites.

from Exodus 6:18

Exodus 6:16

And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were a hundred thirty-seven years.

from Numbers 26:57


a thread opens

Luke 2:14

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

John 17:4

I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.

from Luke 2:14

I Timothy 1:18

This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on you, that you by them might wage the good warfare;

from II Timothy 4:7


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Luke 18:7

And shall not God give justice to his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them?

Revelation of John 6:10

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 Luke 18:7 · a strong link

Zechariah 1:12

Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?

from Revelation of John 6:10 · a strong link

Isaiah 40:2

Speak encouragingly to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

from Psalms 102:13 · a strong link

Jeremiah 16:18

And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled my inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things.

from Isaiah 40:2 · a strong link

Jeremiah 3:9

And it happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

from Jeremiah 16:18


a thread opens

Luke 14:26

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.

John 12:25

He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.

from Luke 14:26 · a strong link

Mark 8:35

For whoever will save his life shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

from John 12:25 · a strong link

Luke 17:33

Whoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

from Mark 8:35

Luke 9:24

For whoever will save his life shall lose it: but whoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

from Luke 17:33

Hebrews 11:35

Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

from Luke 9:24

That is the whole thread.

Every verse the cross-references reach from Ecclesiastes 8:5 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