a thread opens
What profits the carved image that its maker has carved it; the cast image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusts in it, to make mute idols?
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 they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
from Habakkuk 2:18
Look, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their cast images are wind and confusion.
from Jeremiah 10:8
And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them.
from Isaiah 41:29
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 say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Look, I am against you, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of you: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
from Leviticus 10:3
And I, look, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
from Ezekiel 28:22
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with a high hand.
from Exodus 14:17
And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.
from Exodus 14:8 · a strong link
This month shall be to you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
from Numbers 33:3
You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread: (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it you came out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
from Exodus 12:2
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
There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who are you that judge another?
from Ephesians 3:20 · a strong link
Do not grumble one against another, brothers, lest you be condemned: look, the judge stands before the door.
from James 4:12
Judge not, so that you will not be judged.
from James 5:9
But why do you judge your brother? or why do you set at nothing your brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
from Matthew 7:1 · a strong link
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 to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Numbers 18:12
You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you shall give it to the stranger in your gates, so that he may eat it; or you may sell it to an alien: for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in his mother’s milk.
from Exodus 34:26
a thread opens
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And every creature in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.
from Luke 2:14
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
from Revelation of John 5:13 · a strong link
And again, when he brings in the firstbegotten into the world, he says, And let all the angels of God worship him.
from Philippians 2:10 · 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?
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness; but is patience toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
from Luke 18:7
But you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, patience, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
from II Peter 3:9 · a strong link
For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy to all them that call upon you.
from Psalms 86:15
But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be feared.
from Psalms 86:5
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
from Psalms 130:4
To the praise of the glory of his grace, in which he has made us accepted in the beloved.
from Daniel 9:9
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.
Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them as rubbish, so that I may win Christ,
from Luke 14:26 · a strong link
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death;
from Philippians 3:8 · a strong link
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
from Philippians 3:10
Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
from I Peter 1:3
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; look, all things have become new.
from John 3:3 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Habakkuk 2:18 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