a thread opens
And the earth was formless and empty; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
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.
I saw the earth, and, look, it was formless and empty; and the heavens, and they had no light.
from Genesis 1:2 · a strong link
And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look to the land, look, darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in its heavens.
from Jeremiah 4:23
And they shall look to the earth; and look, trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
from Isaiah 5:30 · a strong link
The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hastens greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
from Isaiah 8:22
Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
from Zephaniah 1:14
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.
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
from I Corinthians 8:4
Have we not all one father? has not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
from Ephesians 4:6
Take heed every one of his neighbor, and do not trust in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanders.
from Malachi 2:10
A man that bears false witness against his neighbor is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.
from Jeremiah 9:4
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
Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
from Acts 20:28
What? have you not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise you the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
from I Corinthians 10:32
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.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
from I John 2:27
To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to us they did minister the things, which are now reported to you by them that have preached the gospel to you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
from I Corinthians 2:13
But go your way till the end be: for you shall rest, and stand in your lot at the end of the days.
from I Peter 1:12
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith:
from Daniel 12:13
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
from II Timothy 4:7
Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
from Acts 20:24 · 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.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone;
from I Corinthians 12:28
To whom coming, as to a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
from Ephesians 2:20 · a strong link
This is the stone which was set at nothing of you builders, which has become the cornerstone.
from I Peter 2:4
The stone which the builders refused has become the head stone of the corner.
from Acts 4:11 · a strong link
Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth its headstone with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace to it.
from Psalms 118:22 · a strong link
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.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and says of him, Look, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
from I Chronicles 29:17
Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed;
from John 1:47
But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.
from John 8:31
And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must happen, but the end is not yet.
from Matthew 24:13
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:
The place of the Scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb mute before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
from I Corinthians 5:7
But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy its tree with the fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
from Acts 8:32
God shall likewise destroy you for ever, he shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.
from Jeremiah 11:19
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Genesis 1:2 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