a thread opens
Go your way, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God now accepts your works.
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.
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 Ecclesiastes 9:7
You shall eat it before the LORD your God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, you and your household.
from Deuteronomy 12:7
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
I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I taken away anything of it for any unclean use, nor given anything of it for the dead: but I have listened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that you have commanded me.
from Deuteronomy 12:17
Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;
from Deuteronomy 26:14
a thread opens
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
from I Corinthians 8:4
And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
from Deuteronomy 4:39 · a strong link
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
from Joshua 2:11
I may count all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
from Psalms 22:14
a thread opens
By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
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 John 3:16
Shepherd the flock of God among you, taking its oversight, not by constraint, but willingly; not for dishonest gain, but of a ready mind;
from Acts 20:28 · a strong link
For an overseer must be blameless, as the steward of God; not arrogant, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;
from I Peter 5:2 · a strong link
a thread opens
But the anointing which you have received of him remains in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall remain in him.
Being born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, by the word of God, which lives and remains for ever.
from I John 2:27
Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
from I Peter 1:23 · a strong link
He answered them, Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
from John 3:3 · a strong link
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.
from Matthew 13:11
And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief: for truly I say to you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you.
from I Corinthians 13:2 · a strong link
Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.
from Matthew 17:20 · a strong link
a thread opens
And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, varieties of tongues.
Greet all your leaders, and all the saints. They of Italy greet you.
from I Corinthians 12:28 · a strong link
Remember your leaders, who have spoken to you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conduct.
from Hebrews 13:24 · a strong link
If you know not, O fairest among women, go your way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed your kids beside the shepherds’ tents.
from Hebrews 13:7
What is your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among women? what is your beloved more than another beloved, that you do so charge us?
from Song of Solomon 1:8 · a strong link
Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah.
from Song of Solomon 5:9
a thread opens
I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy your people, who are present here, to offer willingly to you.
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believes not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
from Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brothers, what shall we do?
from I Corinthians 14:24
And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
from Acts 2:37 · a strong link
a thread opens
Clean out therefore the old leaven, so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
And I saw, and, look, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
from I Corinthians 5:7
And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ecclesiastes 9:7 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