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.
But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
from Exodus 23:4
And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thank have you? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
from Matthew 5:44 · a strong link
Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not you away.
from Luke 6:34 · a strong link
The wicked borrows, and pays not again: but the righteous shows mercy, and gives.
from Matthew 5:42
The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
from Psalms 37:21
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.
Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, and he that formed you from the womb, I am the LORD that makes all things; that stretches forth the heavens alone; that spreads abroad the earth by myself;
from I Corinthians 8:4
Which alone spreads out the heavens, and treads upon the waves of the sea.
from Isaiah 44:24
Thus shall you say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
from Job 9:8
They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
from Jeremiah 10:11
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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.
For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit:
from I John 3:16
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
from I Peter 3:18
But emptied himself, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
from Romans 8:3
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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
It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.
from I Peter 1:23
I will never forget your precepts: for with them you have given me life.
from John 6:63 · a strong link
I will delight myself in your statutes: I will not forget your word.
from Psalms 119:93
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
from Psalms 119:16
For this is my covenant to them, when I shall take away their sins.
from Hebrews 10:16 · a strong link
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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.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
from I Corinthians 12:28
But he that prophesies speaks to men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
from Romans 12:6
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things with which one may edify another.
from I Corinthians 14:3
Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.
from Romans 14:19 · a strong link
Does not behave improperly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil;
from Romans 15:2
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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.
And you, Solomon my son, know you the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off for ever.
from I Chronicles 29:17 · a strong link
He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? says the LORD.
from I Chronicles 28:9 · a strong link
Learn to do good; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
from Jeremiah 22:16
Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother:
from Isaiah 1:17
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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 when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden bowls full of odors, which are the prayers of saints.
And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
from Revelation of John 5:8 · a strong link
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