a thread opens
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
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.
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? No: but by the law of faith.
from Ephesians 2:9
For if Abraham were justified by works, he has of which to glory; but not before God.
from Romans 3:27 · a strong link
That, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.
from Romans 4:2
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.
And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.
from Leviticus 10:3
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
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
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
And you shall rejoice in every good thing which the LORD your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the stranger among you.
from Deuteronomy 12:7
And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite within your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD your God has chosen to place his name there.
from Deuteronomy 26:11
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 able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
from Jude 1:24 · a strong link
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your house; and you shall make them drink of the river of your pleasures.
from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link
You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
from Psalms 36:8 · a strong link
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 Psalms 16:11
With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he look: why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
from I Corinthians 13:12
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.
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
Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons.
from Numbers 16:1
I the LORD have said, I will surely do it to all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
from Numbers 27:3
God is not a man, so that he should lie; neither the son of man, so that he should repent: has he said, and shall he not do it? or has he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
from Numbers 14:35 · a strong link
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moves in it.
from Luke 2:14
Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
from Psalms 69:34 · a strong link
Sing, O you heavens; for the LORD has done it: shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it: for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
from Isaiah 49:13 · a strong link
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?
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
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, you King of saints.
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon has fallen, has fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.
And indeed, here comes a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon has fallen, has fallen; and all the carved images of her gods he has broken to the ground.
from Revelation of John 14:8 · a strong link
And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more to him: yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
from Isaiah 21:9
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a monster, he has filled his belly with my delicacies, he has cast me out.
from Jeremiah 51:44 · a strong link
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.
He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
So when they had dined, Jesus says to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, love you me more than these? He says to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He says to him, Feed my lambs.
from Matthew 10:37
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
from John 21:15
Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God tries the hearts and inmost thoughts.
from Hebrews 4:13
But, O LORD of hosts, that judge righteously, that try the inmost thoughts and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them: for to you have I revealed my cause.
from Psalms 7:9 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Ephesians 2:9 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