a thread opens
And now they sin more and more, and have made them cast images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.
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.
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?
from Hosea 13:2
For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
from Habakkuk 2:18
For the children of Israel shall remain many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
from Zechariah 10:2
And Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel prostituted themselves there after it: which thing became a snare to Gideon, and to his house.
from Hosea 3:4
And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the carved image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the cast image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.
from Judges 8:27
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.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
from I Corinthians 8:4 · a strong link
I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded you, though you have not known me:
from Deuteronomy 6:4
It is God that girds me with strength, and makes my way perfect.
from Isaiah 45:5
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our competence is from God;
from Psalms 18:32
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.
And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a fragrant offering.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
For we are to God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
from Ephesians 5:2
But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.
from II Corinthians 2:15
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.
For we have not followed cleverly devised myths, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
from I John 2:27
But who can endure the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
from II Peter 1:16
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from its midst by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
from Malachi 3:2
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your obscenity, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
from Isaiah 4:4
And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.
from Ezekiel 36:25 · a strong link
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins: return to me; for I have redeemed you.
from Jeremiah 33:8
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.
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 Corinthians 12:28
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
from Acts 20:28 · a strong link
And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
from Isaiah 40:11 · a strong link
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
from Ezekiel 34:23
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
from Hebrews 13:20
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.
But the LORD said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
And they prayed, and said, You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show whether of these two you have chosen,
from I Samuel 16:7 · a strong link
I the LORD search the heart, I try the inmost thoughts, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
from Acts 1:24
Also to you, O Lord, belongs mercy: for you render to every man according to his work.
from Jeremiah 17:10 · a strong link
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:
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.
from I Corinthians 5:7
Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
from Exodus 13:6
You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shall you eat unleavened bread with it, even the bread of affliction; for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
from Exodus 12:15 · a strong link
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from Hosea 13:2 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