a thread opens
If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.
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.
If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink:
from Exodus 23:4
Therefore if your enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head.
from Proverbs 25:21
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: its coals are coals of fire, which has a most blazing flame.
from Romans 12:20
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 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
from Leviticus 10:3
What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
from Exodus 14:4 · a strong link
And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: to which also they were appointed.
from Romans 9:22 · a strong link
And through greed shall they with fabricated words exploit you: whose judgment now of a long time is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
from I Peter 2:8
Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent to you?
from II Peter 2:3
For this cause have I sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
from II Corinthians 12:17
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,
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
from Jude 1:24
You have heard how I said to you, I go away, and come again to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go to the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
from John 10:29 · a strong link
Has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
from John 14:28
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
from Hebrews 1:2 · a strong link
So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest; but he that said to him, You are my Son, today have I begotten you.
from John 1:14
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 to bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the LORD:
from Exodus 23:19
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
That in the administration of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
from Colossians 1:20 · a strong link
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
from Ephesians 1:10
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?
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great reward.
from Luke 18:7
And you shall be blessed; for they cannot recompense you: for you shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
from Hebrews 10:35
He that has pity upon the poor lends to the LORD; and that which he has given will he pay him again.
from Luke 14:14
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown toward his name, in that you have served the saints, and do minister.
from Proverbs 19:17
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
from Hebrews 6:10 · a strong link
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; constant in prayer;
from I Thessalonians 1:3
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
He that loves pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
from Matthew 5:8 · a strong link
Righteous lips are the delight of kings; and they love him that speaks right.
from Proverbs 22:11 · a strong link
The king’s favor is toward a wise servant: but his wrath is against him that causes shame.
from Proverbs 16:13
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Exodus 23:4 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